IMDb Wants to Make Every Movie and TV Show Free
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 17, 2008
IMDb.com’s site founder Col Needham said Monday, “Our goal is to show our users every movie and TV show on the Internet for free on IMDb.com.” Needless to say, I can see many of the wandering movie-lovers of the interwebs being down with that. Yesterday, IMDb launched what appears to be a very ambitious project known as IMDb Video. It has started, like competitor Hulu, by offering a multi-network assortment of TV shows, including 24, Heroes and Jericho. They have also launched with a limited selection of recent films as well as a few classics, including but not limited to The Scorpion King, Bring It On and Fiddler on the Roof.
The question now becomes whether or not IMDb will be able to keep up with the growth of competitors like Hulu and TheWB.com. As we’ve seen, so far Hulu is the only online video distributor to be able to maintain a level of growth that has sustained viewership. Then again, TheWB has just launched, and time will tell the tale of their success or failure. The same can be said of IMDb, though, there is certainly more upside — IMDb, combined with parent company Amazon, is a much more formidable competitor to Hulu. Another interesting development will be how IMDb’s ambitious “make every movie and TV show free” goal affect Amazon’s UnBox service.
Where do you watch TV shows and movies online?
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