The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) feels like it has been around since the dawn of the Web. And you may be surprised to learn that it has in fact been around since the advent of the modern Internet era, launching initially in 1990, before going on to be acquired by Amazon in 1998.
The IMDb is an online database of information covering movies, TV shows, actors, and other related tidbits. And today, it has revealed that its Android and iOS apps have conjured up more than 40m downloads between them, since they launched back in 2010.
Interestingly, we’re told that its native mobile apps have been downloaded a roughly-equal number of times on both iOS and Android (‘more than 20 million each’). Moreover, in the past five months, monthly visits to IMDb’s mobile-optimized website AND apps have exceeded 150m each month.
Discovery, personalization, social
To mark this milestone, IMDb is also announcing a slew of updates to these apps, including new discovery, personalization and social features.
Following in the footsteps of the likes of second-screen app Zeebox (see previous coverage), users can now check-in to share what they’re watching on Facebook and Twitter, and join the discussions on the new mobile-optimized message boards.
You can also now discover where you favorite flicks were filmed, and what tunes are on the soundtrack, while the More Like This feature lets users find new movies and shows while they browse. And you can now tap the + sign on posters to add a title to your Watchlist, a neat feature that was incorporated into the app last year.
IMDb’s founder and CEO Col Needham reckons that the new optimized message boards will prove particularly popular. “Today’s announcement reflects growing customer demand for discovery, personalization and social functionality on their favorite mobile apps,” he says. “Given that IMDb.com’s message boards generate more than 2.5 billion page views annually, it’s no surprise that mobile-optimized message boards were our number one customer request.”
Additionally, users of IMDb’s Android app will also now be able to log-in using their Amazon account information, which makes sense given that Amazon is the parent company.
Both app updates are now live.
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