FilmRise was founded in 2012 and is located in New York, New York. The company has partnerships with dozens of entertainment companies and maybe most familiar to viewers as a service available on Roku sticks and televisions.
And while the service appears to be dabbling in original content, it is most known for its collection of classics, British programming, and licensing – depending on the source, the company has access to between 20,000 – 40,000 titles – which it streams on third-party platforms like The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Tubi, Peacock, Samsung TV Plus, Crackle, Redbox and Amazon’s Freevee.
Let’s dive into our review of FilmRise.
Service
In our test of FilmRise, we found the service to be very reliable. The user interface (we tested it on Roku and later the FilmRise mobile app) is very straightforward, and while it may lack features like Netflix’s My List and Remind Me Later (see mobile app piece below for more on that), the wireframe of both are simple and easy to use, something most streamers can appreciate as premium services continue to overcomplicate recommendations in an endless push to pinpoint what you want to watch.
According to PrivacySavvy, FilmRise has a monthly audience of around 150k viewers (though that seemed pretty low to us, we’re not sure if these are website visits or streams).
The service is not VPN compatible, which could be a deal breaker for many people. You can, however, connect to VPN if your VPN has a split-tunneling feature.
Content and ads
We watched Rat Race on Roku television via the FilmRise app. The quality was good, and it was great to browse classics and relax.
However, the service is pretty ad-heavy. For context, Rat Race runs an hour and 52 minutes. In that 112-minute presentation, we experienced a 3-minute ad break every 10 minutes or so, which put our entire viewing at 148 minutes, with 36 of those dedicated to ads, which was annoying but bearable given the service is no-cost.
FilmRise has over 20 thousand titles available (again, depending on the source). Most of the titles on its bench are classic movies and shows that might not be at the top of everyone’s list, but it was a real pleasure to binge The Rifle Man on a rainy Saturday, and FilmRise has that kind of content in droves.
App support
The platform is not the largest among its competitors, but it has a mobile application available for viewers on the go. Mobile support doesn’t seem like something to get excited about in this day and age, but believe it or not, it isn’t an easy feat to manage for organizations that don’t have the kind of resources that Amazon and Netflix do, and FilmRise is certainly the little-engine-that-could among some of the giants in the streaming business.
The app itself was pretty robust as well. Just as we experienced when viewing FilmRise on Roku, the app’s interface was sleek and simple to use – what more can you ask for?
Note: The Mobile App did have a Netflix-styled Watch List, which is really great for die-hard streamers.
At the end of the day, FilmRise gets a thumbs up from us for their app support.
Safety
From a safety perspective, there were no shady downloads required to enjoy FilmRise; the company and its POCs are legitimate and can be trusted.
As mentioned above, the company itself is based in the U.S.; you’ll have no problems enjoying FilmRise on mobile, television, or through your browser.
Summary
FilmRise has an impressive library and great app support. The app itself is actually designed beautifully, and we think you’ll look past the heavy ad placement given its ease of use and sleek design.
Pros: Excellent collection of classics and access across multiple devices.
Cons: Limited selection of newer content and an ad-to-content ratio of about 30%. Clicking “back” on Roku during an ad to exit the app did nothing, you’ll have to finish any ad playing, even if the movie is over.