What Happened to Viewster?

Viewster shut down in 2019, but there are still many ways to stream full-length movies online for free

By
Stacy Fisher
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Stacy Fisher
Technology Educator
  • Emporia State University
Stacy is a professional technology educator with over 25 years' experience. She has published hundreds of articles, co-authored a book, and has appeared on national and local TV.
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Updated on January 10, 2024

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Viewster was a website with free movie streams, including thousands of Hollywood and independent films, plus some free TV shows.

The website shut down in 2019 and relaunched soon after as another streaming service, CONtv, which is offered by the same company that purchased Viewster.

The good news is there are lots of similar ad-supported movie sites you can use instead, as you'll learn below.

What Was Viewster?

Viewster had free movies, TV shows, and other videos from partners like STARZ, 20th Century Fox, BBC, and HBO. It was completely legal to use and was free because it was supported by ads. You could watch these videos from their website, the mobile app, gaming consoles, and smart TVs.

Some of the categories you could browse through included Action, Sci-Fi, Anime, Animation, Comedy, Korean Drama, Documentary, Romance, and others.

Browse menu on Viewster

Why Did Viewster Shut Down?

It's unclear why Viewster shut down, but there are two likely reasons...

Given that it was powered by ad revenue, it's possible that the money just wasn't coming in like they needed it to, and so instead of taking a loss, they closed down.

Another reason might be because of new owners. Viewster was acquired by Cineverse (then called Cinedigm) in early 2019, and that company also owns CONtv, another movie streaming website.

CONtv is similar to Viewster. It has a decent list of free movies and works from their website and mobile app. You can check out CONtv's movies here.

Are Viewster's Movies Still Available?

There were over 12,000 titles in Viewster's movie collection, but since the website is no longer live, you can not get those movies back. The closest thing that's available today is the Free Movies By Cineverse YouTube channel. There are dozens of full-length films there, in genres like action, drama, family, horror, and thriller.

Viewster Alternatives

There are many other sites where you can watch free movies and shows, some with far more programming than Viewster ever had. Crackle, Vudu, YouTube, and Popcornflix are a few examples of my favorites.

If you miss the Viewster app, these free movie apps function much like Viewster's app did. They pull movies from sites that add fresh content often, so they're the best ways to enjoy movies from your phone or tablet for free.

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