Amazon launches new free films and TV streaming channel through IMDB

The free, ad-supported streaming video market is getting extremely competitive.

IMDb, the movie and TV website owned by Amazon, launched a free streaming channel on Thursday. Called IMDb Freedive, it’s available to U.S. viewers on the IMDb website and Amazon Fire TV devices. 

IMDb Freedive offers a variety of content, spanning film and television, at no cost. There is no IMDb or Amazon Prime subscription required, as the service is supported by advertisements. Viewers simply need to create a free IMDb account to begin watching.

Older films like The Illusionist, Memento, and The Last Samurai are currently available to watch on the service. Fringe, Heroes, Without a Trace, and The Bachelor make up some of Freedive’s current television offerings. (There are multiple categories on the service, including drama, comedies, horror, action, family, and so on.) The streaming service also boasts of a few IMDb original series’ that take a look at the movie and TV industry.

Video streaming services are extremely hot right now. A recent study found that Netflix alone consists of of the entire world’s internet traffic. Netflix competitors such as Amazon’s paid subscription service, Prime Video, and are also experiencing growth. Disney is about to launch its filled with Star Wars and Marvel content. 

However, as subscription-based streaming heats up, major players have also been launching free ad-supported streaming services.

Late last year, YouTube rolled out a on its Films & Shows vertical showcasing ad-supported Hollywood films. The vertical was previously reserved for content that needed to be rented or purchased to watch. The company that its own YouTube Original videos, such as its Karate Kid spinoff Cobra Kai, were all going the free to watch, ad-supported model as well this year. That content use to require a paid subscription to YouTube Premium.

Roku, one of the leading set-stop streaming media box companies, also has its own free-to-watch channel, The Roku Channel. Last summer, the company launched a stand-alone website for no longer requiring a Roku device in order to watch content on its free streaming video network.

Currently, the only set-top media devices that can stream IMDb’s Freedive are Amazon’s Fire TV products. It will be interesting to see if Amazon eventually opens Freedive up to other set-top boxes like Roku. 

Amazon has notoriously made it difficult for Amazon Prime Video subscribers to consume its content on non-Amazon devices. Amazon Prime Video was conspicuously absent from Apple TV’s app offerings until a little . You still can’t stream Prime Video films and shows to .

IMDb says they will be make Freedive more widely available, but so far the only platform explicitly named is the IMDb mobile app. Judging by the Prime Video rollout, its possible that IMDb Freedive remains a Fire TV exclusive for at least the near future.