YouTube: Now Offering Free Movies With Ads

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Quietly, sometime in October, 2018, YouTube began offering 100 "high profile" movies to be viewed for free ... but with a catch. These movies are free, but with ads. Kind of like commercial TV in the U.S.

YouTube calls it their "Free With Ads" option. Included are critically acclaimed movies, such as the five Rocky movies, The Terminator, and Legally Blonde. Other films included are Igor, All Dogs Go To Heaven, and With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story.

"We saw this opportunity based on user demand, beyond just offering paid movies. Can we do ad-supported movies, free to the user?" Dhawan says in an AdAge article. "It also presents a nice opportunity for advertisers."

Now, viewing full length feature films on YouTube isn't necessarily a new thing. Starting in 2015, YouTube started offering subscription-based content with YouTube Red. Previously, YouTube users could purchase full-length feature films. This represents the first time that YouTube has given users a chance to watch these quality movies by opting for ad interruptions, versus paying to watch a movie.

Here's a full list of free films now available, with ad breaks, on YouTube:

• Rocky
• Rocky II
• Rocky III
• Rocky IV
• Rocky V
• Legally Blonde
• Legally Blonde 2
• Igor
• Agent Cody Banks
• Agent Cody Banks 2
• Sleepover
• Zookeeper
• What's the Worst That Could Happen
• Kano
• Terminator
• The Man in the Iron Mask
• All Dogs Go To Heaven
• The Magic of Belle Isle
• The Pink Panther 2
• Out of Time
• Uptown Girls
• A Guy Thing
• Flawless
• Hackers
• Experimenter
• The Wrath of Vajra
• Bio-Dome
• Blackthorn
• Return to Me
• With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
• Throw Momma From The Train
• Saved
• Dino King
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
• The Sorcerer and the White Snake
• Monsters
• Kung Fu Killer
• Good Boy!
• Trail of the Pink Panther
• Son of the Pink Panther
• Curse of the Pink Panther
• Very Good Girls
• The Hero of Color City
• Slightly Single in LA
• Tai Chi Hero
• The Timber
• Jiro Dreams of Sushi
• A Company Man
• Special ID
• The Assassins
• Drug War
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• McCanick
• Mystery Road
• Ip Man: The Final Fight
• New World
• Main Street
• Europa Report
• The Great Buck Howard
• The Pirates
• Police Story: Lockdown
• The World's Fastest Indian
• Memories of the Sword
• The Suspect
• Wu Dang
• White Haired Witch
• Rejoice & Shout
• The Woods
• Jesus Camp
• The Lost City
• Painted Skin -- The Resurrection
• The Thieves
• Dumbstruck
• Countdown to Zero
• Vengeance of an Assassin
• Skating to New York
• I Wish
• Commitment
• Into the White
• The Assassin
• A Place at the Table
• Venus and Serena
• Grand Piano
• FrackNation
• And While We Were Here
• Swelter
• Legendary Amazons
• Good Ol' Freda
• The Truth About Emanuel
• A Long Way Down
• Great World of Sound
• Muay Thai Giant
• Ocean Heaven
• Ballet 422
• The Good Heart
• I'll Follow You Down
• Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
• The Last Tycoon

Of course, this isn't the only free movie content to be found on YouTube. Any savvy YouTube user can fairly easily find other content that either has snuck its way past the copyright conTROLLERS, or movies that mostly wouldn't be considered to be "top tier" productions. For example, I just typed "free movies on youtube" in the YouTube search bar, and was presented with hundreds -- if not thousands -- of choices.

Granted, many of these movies can't be described as "prime" or "top tier" movies. But, there are some hidden gems in there, too. For example, one of the movies in a collection of what's descr”ibed as 600 SciFi movies is The Last Man On Earth, starring Vincent Price. Another, as you can see in the screenshot above, is Metropolis, the 1927 classic that is touted as being one of the first -- if not the first -- SciFi blockbuster movies ever.

Do you like 1980s movies? Well, there's a playlist containing 277 movies from the 1980s, including Paternity, starring the recently departed Burt Reynolds. Do you like classic movies? There's a playlist containing 129 classic movies, including one of my personal favorites, Stalag 17. Popcornflix maintains a playlist of their mostly B movies, with 117 videos in the list. There's a list called "Rare 80s Movies" containing 112 videos, including the 1983 post-apocalyptic movie The Day After that I was actually an extra in while I was a student at the University of Kansas. If you like action movies, then you're likely to find something in this playlist that appeals to you.

Here's the REALLY great part about all of these "other" free movies on YouTube: they are free to watch, without having to endure ads. Yup! You can watch them, ad free!

No matter your interest, if you search hard enough, you're sure to find something that appeals to those interests. I do know that there are many users who will avoid YouTube like the bubonic plague, just because it's owned and operated by the evil Google empire. If that's the choice you make, then this article isn't for you. But the free movies on YouTube provide an excellent choice for those who a) want to watch some free movies, b) want to "cut the cord" (or who can't afford cable/satellite service), and/or c) those who want to avoid streaming services that might be operating in a legal gray zone (like Popcorn Time).

Meanwhile, the rest of us will enjoy the entertainment provided by the free movies.