Amazon launches IMDb Freedive, an ad-supported streaming service

IMDb, the information-rich film and TV website, launched a free, ad-supported, streaming video channel in the U.S. this week. IMDb Freedive offers a wide selection of popular television series and Hollywood feature films, all available without a paid subscription. News of a free streaming content service for Fire TV owners started circulating last August.

At the Freedive launch, TV show choices included Fringe, Heroes, The Bachelor, and Without a Trace. Hollywood films are arranged by category. Top row movies include hits Awakenings, Foxcatcher, Memento, Monster, Run Lola Run, The Illusionist, The Last Samurai, and True Romance.

The IMDb Originals category includes celebrity interviews, documentaries, short series, trailers, news, and coverage of film festivals, award shows, and related events. If IMDb Freedive attracts a large viewership because of the deep content, despite the ads, it’s an easy bet the channel will ramp up production of original features and short subjects.

The X-Ray option on Amazon Prime video is also available with Freedive. X-Ray draws on IMDb’s massive film and television information database for supplementary content. While watching a show or film, you can pause the action and X-Ray displays in a screen overlay with brief bits of information about the actors in the scene, the soundtrack, the location, related titles, scene notes, and more. If you tap on one of the info tidbits, X-Ray goes deeper with additional content on the specific topic.

If you use a Fire TV device for streaming content, the IMDb Freedive channel is already a menu choice like Netflix or Amazon Prime. Just click on the channel and start enjoying the content.

Freedive is also available on the IMDb website. You don’t need a paid subscription to watch the channel, but you do need to log in. Logging in isn’t required with Fire TV devices because they already know who you are.

You can sign in to IMDb Freedive’s website using your Amazon, Facebook, or Google account login information or by creating a free IMDb account. If you’d prefer to keep your Freedive activity separate from social media and your Amazon account, you should know that Amazon owns IMDb.

Once you’ve logged in to IMDb, in addition to free full-length movies and TV shows, additional features include personalized recommendations for Freedive content and the ability to create a big screen watch list of upcoming films with email alerts when they open in theaters near you. IMDb members can also rate shows and films they watch and contribute to IMDb’s film and television database.