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YouTube now with free ad-supported blockbuster movies

Martin Brinkmann
Nov 19, 2018
Updated • Nov 19, 2018
Music and Video, Youtube
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31

Most YouTube users don't associate the site with blockbuster movies, probably, even though it is possible to rent movies on the site just as it is possible to do the same on Amazon, Google Play, or iTunes.

Most full-length movies on the site seem to have been uploaded by users of the site and not rights holders on the other hand, and they are removed regularly because of that.

YouTube users from the United States, and those using a VPN, have access to about 100 blockbuster films that they may watch on YouTube for free.

youtube free to watch movies

The movies include popular titles such as Rocky I to V, the Terminator, Four Weddings and a Funeral, or Hackers, but also titles that you may have never heard about, e.g. Dino King, Main Street, or Memories of the Sword.

Just click on any of the movies to play it on YouTube if you are from the United States; if you are not, you get a notification that the video is not available in your region.

YouTube displays video ads regularly while the movie is playing similarly to how that is handled on TV. Rocky IV, for example, had nine one-clip advertisement breaks, Zookeper eight of them and one in the beginning. Some of these ads cannot be skipped after five seconds either.

You can change playback quality up to 1080p and get the same level of control over playback that you get for free videos on the site.

Adage had a chance to talk with Rohit Dhawan, director of product management at YouTube about the new feature on the site; it seems that it is a test to see if premium content can be offered for free on the site.

Dhawan told Adage that YouTube would expand the selection going forward and that there is opportunity for advertisers to "sponsor individual movies".

Closing Words

The current selection of movies on YouTube is limited; while you find some classics on the list, the vast majority of movies are not. It remains to be seen how well the new feature is received by users from the United States.

Most of the movies that are available for free are relatively old and many may have seen the few classics already on TV, media, or other streaming services.

Now You: Your take on ad-supported blockbuster movies on YouTube?

Summary
YouTube now with free ad-supported blockbuster movies
Article Name
YouTube now with free ad-supported blockbuster movies
Description
YouTube users from the United States, and those using a VPN, have access to about 100 blockbuster films that they may watch on YouTube for free.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. David said on November 20, 2018 at 9:13 am
    Reply

    Couldn’t watch. Must be a US only service.

    1. Tom Hawack said on November 20, 2018 at 6:40 pm
      Reply

      @David, I’m in France and no problem with the movies either.
      You did replace hxxps by https didn’t you? Just joking!

    2. TelV said on November 20, 2018 at 1:01 pm
      Reply

      @David,

      I’m in the Netherlands and can watch all of them without a problem. Do you get an error message when you try to view them?

  2. TelV said on November 19, 2018 at 7:09 pm
    Reply

    Well, here’s a tip for all you movie fans. If you don’t mind subtitles in another language, there are several good movies which have been uploaded to YT such as these:

    * Triple 9 (2016) – starring Casey Affleck – hxxps://youtu.be/e44xggJ_-MQ
    * The November Man (2014) – Pierce Brosnan – hxxps://youtu.be/uYdGlh3ETkw
    * Unknown (2011) – Liam Neeson – hxxps://youtu.be/NBVAwRY5h6w
    * River (2015) – Rossif Sutherland – hxxps://youtu.be/kjseEPNiDJM
    * The Invitation (2015) – Logan Marshall-Green – hxxps://youtu.be/Kf_j2ENBHi4

    Hit Ctrl+N in VLC player and then copy/paste the links to stream. Change the hxxps into https first and then hit Enter to play. (No need to go to youtube first).

    All movies are free and don’t contain ads.

    1. Tom Hawack said on November 19, 2018 at 10:34 pm
      Reply

      And for Christmas,
      ‘Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol (1951)’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlCMMMO-zr0

      This movie was broadcasted every Christmas on an American TV channel back in the sixties, still marvels me 50+ years later.

      1. TelV said on November 20, 2018 at 12:57 pm
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        @Tom Hawack,

        Did you actually watch it in 1951?

      2. Tom Hawack said on November 20, 2018 at 2:25 pm
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        @TelV in 1951 I was still somewhere between hell and paradise :=) I discovered the movie at 6 years old when the movie was then 8.
        Compute!

      3. TelV said on November 20, 2018 at 5:30 pm
        Reply

        @Tom Hawack,

        Haha…yes, I must admit there was an element of trickery in my question.

        If it’s any consulation, the Netherlands was still occupied by the our biggest neighbour during WW2 when I made my first appearance in the world. :D

      4. Tom Hawack said on November 20, 2018 at 6:33 pm
        Reply

        @TelV, looks like I owe you respect which was free until now :=)

      5. TelV said on November 21, 2018 at 11:33 am
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        @Tom Hawack,

        I hope it won’t break the bank: I’m destitute. ;)

        Oh, and I streamed “To live and die in L.A.” last night. It dates from 1985, but it’s a really good movie. Sad to say though that the character who played Petersen’s girlfriend (Darlanne Fluegel) died last year aged 64. According to IMDB she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at age 56 which is way too young for that disease. Movie link in case you haven’t seen it: hxxps://youtu.be/jAM74dx9u4A

    2. Richard Steven Hack said on November 19, 2018 at 10:03 pm
      Reply

      The November Man is very good. Especially the scene where Olga Kurylenko is posing as a hooker – absolutely amazing. :-)

      It’s doubtful but it will be interesting to see if these movies can be downloaded using any of the Youtube download sites on the Internet or via the youtube-dl utility. My guess is they won’t, but I may try.

      1. TelV said on November 20, 2018 at 12:53 pm
        Reply

        @Richard Steven Hack,

        Yeah, Olga Kurylenko is gorgeous. I read her Bio on Imdb and she apparently learned to speak French in just six months! Amazing. She’s starred as the Bond girl in a couple of movies and I shall have to try and track those down on YT.

        Another fabulous woman is Diane Kruger. I first saw her in a film called Wicker Park which is a romantic film. Had me in tears at the end…lol. I saw her most recently in “Unknown” with Liam Neeson during a flight from Amsterdam to Singapore. Also on YT in case you missed it: “Unknown” (2011) – hxxps://youtu.be/NBVAwRY5h6w

  3. Roy said on November 19, 2018 at 5:59 pm
    Reply

    What about youtube red/premium/google all-access can you see the movies without the ads?

  4. chesscanoe said on November 19, 2018 at 2:52 pm
    Reply

    I watched Pink Panther 2 from start to finish with no ads using latest Windows 10 and Chrome x64 beta with no extensions disabled. Perfect playback at HD. Invoking that movie in Incognito mode (no extensions) had too many ads for me for me to willfully accept in the future, but I have a short fuse re ads.

  5. Tom Hawack said on November 19, 2018 at 10:58 am
    Reply

    “Rocky IV, for example, had nine one-clip advertisement breaks”

    That’s nine too much. No movie, no video rather than ad-infested ones. I just cannot bear ads anymore, in such an intrusive mode moreover. Ads, ads, ads at this rhythm will one day provide money-free articles in all areas of our lives, free ad-supported cars, free ad-supported clothing, houses … even spacecrafts … http://funkyimg.com/i/2NhRJ.jpg

    Not for me. I second Anonymous’ comment above : I’m glad that these videos are not available in my region.

    The power of advertisement, insane.

    1. jc said on November 20, 2018 at 8:13 pm
      Reply

      It’s free movies given you LEGALLY. How are they going to pay for the rights of the movies and the bandwidth you consume without ads? It’s like television. FTA channels like CBS have advertisements. HBO doesn’t have but you have to buy a subscription. Nothing in life is for free, only entitled brats think others owe them 100% free stuff and gifts. But I do agree, ads in not my cup of tea too, that’s why I buy or rent movies.

      1. Tom Hawack said on November 21, 2018 at 11:59 am
        Reply

        @jc, I’m not expecting the unrealistic scene of “free products in a free world”! Of course all goods and services have a price. I just believe that our epoch is that of a pseudo free cost system taken in charge by advertisements (ad business which has likely induced if not initiated this phantasm of a price-free world) and that the deal is bad for us, consumers.

        My thoughts could have included your conclusion : “ads in not my cup of tea too, that’s why I buy or rent movies.”.

        Even on TV. Here in France we’ve had for years a TV broadcasted movie interrupted by one ad in the middle. Now, on commercial TV you’ll get 3 times 6 minutes of advertisement : this is why I no longer watch movies on commercial TV, though I do on French public TV (France Télévision) as well as on a French-German channel called ARTE where movies, cinema are respected : no ad, not one, within the film. THAT is civilized.

  6. Yuliya said on November 19, 2018 at 10:31 am
    Reply

    I guess it requires DRM support or something: imgur.com/G48Mnkk
    I was curious about the quality you would get. Something tells me it is not even 720p. It is funny how you keep hearing these big companies constantly bitching about people pirating – and what they do to combat it? A service which barely works only if all the planets in our Solar System are aligned perfectly.
    No thank you. I will stick with Pirate Bay.

    1. ams said on November 19, 2018 at 11:34 pm
      Reply

      yes, none played for me. I clicked several and wound up with either “this movie is has not been rated. Please login to verify your age” (no, thanks but no) or “your browser doesn’t support any of the playback formats available blablah” (well, no flash installed, and no Widevine installed, but in recent memory I’ve not encountered a non-playable YT video during day-to-day surfing… so this is something else, something new, something specific to the videos in this freebies playlist)

    2. Weilan said on November 19, 2018 at 12:51 pm
      Reply

      There are other free streaming websites, I haven’t downloaded movies in a long time, probably more than 12 months. I kinda stopped watching movies, cause I’ve seen most of the old ones and all the new ones are trash.

      1. Yuliya said on November 20, 2018 at 12:27 am
        Reply

        I think torrent clients can be forced to download sequentially, making it possible to view/stream the file while it is downloaded.
        I prefer to download then watch locally, because my English is not so good, and sometimes I need to replay short parts to understand the speech, and scrolling on all online players is absolute rubbish compared to VLC/MPC-HC/MPV… I also hate subtitles, they distract me.

  7. Robert Ab said on November 19, 2018 at 10:24 am
    Reply

    I am getting max. 480p video resolution (!).

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on November 19, 2018 at 10:43 am
      Reply

      Could be based on the movie or browser, I did not test all the movies.

      1. Robert Ab said on November 20, 2018 at 2:06 am
        Reply

        Martin:

        Chrome, Vivaldi, Firefox can play most videos up to 480p; some like “The World’s Fastest Indian” up to 360p.
        IE11 does not show any videos.

        Maybe this is related to operating system – I have Win7.

  8. boris said on November 19, 2018 at 8:07 am
    Reply

    Movies do not play if I try to skip to certain point. So you can view movies only uninterrupted.

    1. Hy said on November 19, 2018 at 10:29 am
      Reply

      boris said “Movies do not play if I try to skip to certain point. So you can view movies only uninterrupted.”

      I just tried and skipping works for me.

      1. boris said on November 20, 2018 at 6:33 am
        Reply

        Maybe because I am using older browser: Cyberfox.

      2. Hy said on November 20, 2018 at 8:19 am
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        boris said: “ Maybe because I am using older browser: Cyberfox.”

        Cyberfox…my old favorite browser. :) I used Cyberfox as my primary browser for many years and only switched at the end of last year to FF. I initially used the latest version of FF to test and see if I could skip within a movie but your post made me curious so I tested just now in Cyberfox, and the movie wouldn’t even play for me! Instead I got a black screen where the video should be, with a message in the center saying: “Sorry, there was an error licensing this video.”

  9. Anonymous said on November 19, 2018 at 7:06 am
    Reply

    “you get a notification that the video is not available in your region.”
    I am glad that these videos are not available in my region.

  10. Graham said on November 19, 2018 at 7:03 am
    Reply

    The link you provided leads to an empty channel with no videos.
    Here’s a proper link to the playlist:
    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHPTxTxtC0ibVZrT2_WKWUl2SAxsKuKwx

    1. Martin Brinkmann said on November 19, 2018 at 7:24 am
      Reply

      Thank you Graham!

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