Amazon has executed on a plan first reported over the summer to turn its IMDB site into an ad-supported video on demand streaming platform.
The company has stocked the erstwhile Internet Movie Database, a repository for casting and other information about movies and TV shows, with around 130 older feature films and around 30 TV shows.
The platform, called Freedive, is viewable on smart phones and notebook computers, as well as in the living room through Amazon Firer OTT devices.
Related: Amazon Reportedly at Work on Roku Channel-Like Ad-Supported VOD Service
Movie titles include “A Few Good Men,” “Adaptation,” “Momento,” “True Romance” and “Midnight an Paris,” just to name a few. TV shows include “Heroes,” “Fringe,” “Gilligan’s Island: and “Quantum Leap.”
“Customers already rely on IMDb to discover movies and TV shows and decide what to watch,” said Col Needham, founder and CEO of IMDb, in a statement. “With the launch of IMDb Freedive, they can now also watch full-length movies and TV shows on IMDb and all Amazon Fire TV devices for free. We will continue to enhance IMDb Freedive based on customer feedback and will soon make it available more widely, including on IMDb’s leading mobile apps.”
The launch of Freedive comes as a number of streaming media companies focus on ad-supported video. Roku, for example, drove its stock up nearly 30% earlier this week when it announced that it had 27 million active users, many of them tapping into its Roku Channel—another repository of older movies and TV shows.
