Streaming Streaming TV, Movies, & More What Happened to Viewster? Viewster shut down in 2019, but there are still other free movie sites By Stacy Fisher Stacy is a freelancer with over 18 years experience writing about technology and personal finance. She has published hundreds of articles and co-authored a book. our editorial process Stacy Fisher Updated March 27, 2020 Streaming TV, Movies, & More Netflix Hulu Disney+ Prime Video Apple TV+ Favorite Events Tweet Share Email Viewster was a free online movie website with thousands of Hollywood and independent movies, including a limited number of free TV shows. In 2019, Viewster closed down. Its website now redirects to another streaming service, called CONtv, that's offered by the same company that purchased Viewster. The good news is that you can still watch some of Viewster's movies on YouTube, as you'll learn below. There are also lots of other similar, free movie streaming sites you can use instead of Viewster. 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 free movies and shows from their website, the mobile app, gaming consoles, and smart TVs. Some of the categories you could browse through included Anime, Sci-Fi, Action, Horror, Comedy, Drama, Korean Drama, Documentary, Animation, and Romance. Why Did Viewster Shut Down? It's unclear why Viewster shut down, but there are two likely reasons... Given 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 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—so redirecting Viewster.com traffic to their other service makes sense. Viewster Alternatives There are many other sites where you can watch free movies and TV shows, some with far more programming than Viewster ever had. Crackle, Vudu, Yidio, and Popcornflix are a few examples but there are others in this list of free movie sites. If there were movies on Viewster that you can't find elsewhere, you might have luck locating them on the official Viewster YouTube channel. This is a great way to watch Viewster's movies on your TV, computer, or phone. Plus, YouTube has its own collection of free movies. If watching movies from your phone or tablet is what you're after, see these free movie apps that function much like Viewster's app did. They pull movies from sites that add fresh content often, so they're the best ways to watch movies from your phone for free.