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The Movie Database (TMDb) 360° Intelligence

Report Date: Feb 10, 2026
Risk Level: Low
Vet New Site

Executive Summary

Global Rank

#2,359

Monthly Visits

~19.77M

Avg Duration

2m 59s

Pages/Visit

4.08

Strategic Overview

Business Moats

Large, active crowdsourced data set, Broad internationalization and API integrations, Entrenchment in consumer and B2B developer ecosystems.

Market Headwinds

User complaints about moderation and data deletion, Competition from IMDb and other proprietary sources, Low transparency in leadership and funding, Reliance on community and ad revenues.

Our Verdict

Business Quality Good
Infrastructure Good
Reputation Moderate
Legal/Brand Good

Upside & Downside Analysis

The Bull Case

3 Points
🌍

High Audience Engagement 🌍

  • Nearly 20 million monthly visits; top US, CN, FR, DE, GB traffic.
  • Powers numerous media apps and platforms.
📡

API and Integration Moat 📡

  • Widely used by third-party developers and streaming apps for structured content.
  • Established as a key source for movie and TV metadata beyond IMDb.
🛡️

Resilient Technical Infrastructure 🛡️

  • Built on AWS, Cloudflare, and major enterprise-grade cloud services.
  • Consistent uptime, SSL, and multilingual support.

The Bear Case

3 Points
⚠️

Reputation and Community Risks ⚠️

  • Trustpilot reviews and complaints cite moderation, data loss, and lack of customer support.
  • Community-driven model can lead to inconsistent quality.
💸

Opaque Leadership and Revenue Model 💸

  • Unclear ownership; leadership not publicly detailed.
  • No evidence of recent venture investment or diversified revenue streams.
  • Ad and API revenue may not scale with competition from larger players.
🏁

Competitive Pressure 🏁

  • Competes with IMDb, JustWatch, TheTVDB, and similar metadata providers.
  • Risk of API partners switching if data quality or service lapses.

Domain Integrity

Domain registered since 2008 with MarkMonitor, locked/protected, valid SSL via AWS, and no safe browsing issues detected.

Registrar MarkMonitor Inc.
Domain Age Sep 15, 2008 (17 years old)
Security Status
Registry Locked SSL: Amazon RSA 2048 M04

Reputation

2.7

17 Reviews

Trustpilot

Sentiment Analysis

Reputation is mixed; most negative reviews focus on data removal and support, but platform is generally seen as legitimate and safe.

Common Themes
Unresponsive or poor customer support Unexplained data deletion or moderation bias Inconsistent handling of indie/alternative content Clean UI, no clutter or excessive ads A few positive mentions about free speech and utility

Traffic Distribution

Top Countries Traffic Share Trend
US
20.70%
CN
7.60%
FR
4.70%
DE
4.40%
GB
3.80%

Competition

Competitor Type Threat Analysis
Proprietary movie metadata providers (IMDb, TheTVDB, JustWatch) Direct data and API competition, superior funding, potential integration with large platforms
Alternative crowd-sourced or niche movie databases Community poaching, unique data quality or indie/foreign film focus
Torrent/alternative search engine platforms Competing for film/TV metadata aggregation, especially outside mainstream markets

Tech Stack

☁️

Cloud Infrastructure

Runs on AWS (including Route 53), with Amazon SES for email and CloudFront for CDN services; leverages Microsoft Exchange and Cloudflare for redundancy.

🔍

Privacy and Analytics

Implements cookie consent with OneTrust, uses Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and Google Tag Manager to track engagement and improve user experience.

🌐

Multilingual and Accessibility

Supports dozens of languages, utilizing meta tags and internationalization APIs for broad accessibility.

🔗

API and Ecosystem

Extensive API ecosystem supports developers and integrations with streaming platforms and apps.

Key Risks

Identified Risk Impact Mitigation
Reputation and trust due to user complaints about moderation, support, and data removals. Medium Implement transparent moderation policies, strengthen user support, and communicate changes clearly.
Competitive displacement by proprietary or larger metadata providers. High Continue fostering developer ecosystem, expand unique data offerings, and strengthen B2B partnerships.
Technology failure, uptime interruptions, or API abuse. High Maintain multi-cloud infrastructure, invest in monitoring/alerting, and enforce API rate limits.
Brand dilution or legal challenge from new entrants. Medium Monitor trademark spaces, maintain distinctive branding, and document content licensing and provenance.

Contacts

Department Points of Contact

Support/General Contact travis@themoviedb.org

Appendix & Sources

Key Citations

Data Sources Used

SimilarTech SimilarWeb Trustpilot WHOIS USPTO LinkedIn Google Safe Browsing Perplexity TMDb official and community pages

Disclaimer

This report is compiled from publicly available intelligence and cannot guarantee complete accuracy. Investors should validate material facts independently.