YouTube Is Now Streaming Select Films for Free

Getcha popcorn ready

November 19, 2018 9:00 am EST

If you just can’t do commercials during a film, we suggest closing this window immediately. It’ll only make you upset.

But if you’re willing to consider it … you might soon be making a YouTube account. 

Without much pomp or circumstance, last month YouTube rolled out a repository of “free to watch” feature length films. All are ad-supported, meaning they’ll throw up the occasional commercial during your watch.

As for the selection? Not surprising to see why YouTube didn’t shout this development from the content mountaintop. It’s a bit light. There are 99 films, including Rocky, The Terminator and Legally Blonde. But there are also a good three dozen movies we promise you’ve never heard of (The Timber … ?!) along with a suspicious number of Pink Panther reboots. (Several Rocky films too; seems likely, as ad-supporting models get hashed out, that earning the rights to a franchise is an industry MO.) 

One way to do it, if you’re willing to put in the effort, is platoon YouTube’s selection with those of other ad-supported film libraries. Check out offerings from Tubi TV, Crackle and Popcorn Flix. All told, you should be able to pick a flick on a Friday night.

Or, disregard all this and just rent from Amazon Prime for a few bucks. 

For more information on the development, head here. And for general knowledge on cord cutting best practices, head here.

Image from IMDB
h/t AdAge

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Tanner Garrity

Tanner Garrity

Tanner Garrity is a senior editor at InsideHook, where he’s covered wellness, travel, sports and pop culture since 2017. He also authors The Charge, InsideHook’s weekly wellness newsletter. Beyond the newsroom, he can usually be found running, skating, reading, writing fiction or playing tennis. He lives in Brooklyn.
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