When it comes to trusted user reviews for movies and TV shows, two names come up, and they are IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes. If users have praised a specific movie on these sites, chances are it will be really good, but which one is better? Today, I will share a quick comparison of IMDB vs Rotten Tomatoes and give you my opinion on which is better.
Just stay with me for a couple of minutes, and you’ll get to know what you can expect from these two popular websites. Let’s get started.
IMDB vs Rotten Tomatoes: What’s the Difference?
Let me talk you through a comparison of these two review sites that can decide your next movie or TV show. Let’s talk about each of them one by one.
1. IMDB:
Internet Movie Database, known as IMDB, was launched on 17 October 1990 and has a database of almost all the movies, TV shows, and video games that have been released till now. Initially, the company was independent; however, in 1998, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos bought the company for $55 million, and since then, it has been a subsidiary of Amazon.com.
Regarding movie or TV show reviews by genuine users, there is no place better than IMDB. When you search for a movie or a TV on Google, the first place people land is the IMDb page of that movie or TV show. If the title has good ratings, they don’t hesitate to start watching online or offline, such as in the theater. People usually ignore such movies if the reviews aren’t up to mark.
IMDB has a rating on a scale of 1 to 10. If the movie is really good, people give a 10-star rating straight away, but If the user doesn’t get any satisfaction from watching the movie, they leave the 1-star rating to disapprove of it. In the user reviews on IMDB, people can also see how many people have rated a specific movie or a pretty good TV show.
If you want to give a review of a movie on IMDB, you need to create a free account on the website. You can also download the official app of IMDB. If you are someone who likes to watch the reviews of movies, a lot is needed to find your next movie.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Easy to sign up, and anyone can use it. | People will forget to vote, even for their favorite movie, and only fanboys will vote. |
| Reviews from genuine users and reviewers. | Fanboys may rig the reviews & ratings. |
| Have an official app on both Android and iOS platforms. | |
| Doesn’t have any influence on the movie critics. | |
| Can easily view the demographics of the ratings. |
2. Rotten Tomatoes:
Rotten Tomatoes was launched way back in 1998 by Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. They started this small project in their spare time. The three friends wanted to create something that would help the moviegoers and watchers find a genuine review, and they have been successful in doing that. The company was sold to Fandango Media in 2016. Since then, the company is owned by them.
Rotten Tomatoes is quite different compared to IMDB. Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t take reviews from the general public or users. They only accept reviews from trusted and reputed newspapers, making this website more authentic than IMBD. Few may argue about the exception; however, If you want to get a review from an expert critic, they’ll highlight both the good and bad of a specific in a detailed way.
Rotten Tomatoes has a different system for reviews and ratings compared to IMDB. For example, Unlike IMBD, the Rotten Tomatoes scores will be called Tomatometer. The score is based on a 1 to 100 scale. If the critics like a specific movie a lot, you’ll be able to see the high scores on a movie, and If they don’t like it, you’ll see lower scores on that title.
Here’s how the Rotten Tomatoes system works:
- If a critic likes a movie, a red tomato will be displayed in their review, and If they don’t like it, you’ll see a green tomato.
- If 60 percent or more critics like a movie or a TV show, you’ll see a red tomato in the title, and if it is under 60 percent, you’ll see a green tomato in the title.
If more than 60 percent of critics like a movie for being amazing, it’ll earn a “Fresh score.” If more than 75 percent of critics like a movie, that movie will earn “Certified Fresh,” which is a great achievement for any movie. At the bottom of each movie page, you’ll see excerpts of the critic’s reviews, which you can look at If you don’t want to go through their detailed review.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Accepts review only from reliable and trusted authors and publications. | No app on either Android or iOS devices. |
| The Tomatometer is very easy to understand. | The reviews from genuine users don’t weigh much. |
| You can easily filter the top choices by critics from the options. |
Frequently Asked Questions:
The main Why Rotten Tomatoes is so different from IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes takes reviews only from movie critics, and their job is only to give reviews to movies.
Movie critics have a lot of experience compared to normal people who watch movies on an occasional basis and that’s the reason Rotten Tomatoes accepts reviews from expert critics, and they are so different from IMDB.,
The No.1 movie on IMDB rating is The Shawshank Redemption, released in 1994. The movie is rated 9.3 out of 10, and more than 2.8 million users have given ratings to this film alone, which is huge.
Even IMDB says they aren’t 100% accurate, but they are currently one of the most trusted platforms on the planet for reviewing movies and TV shows. People like you and me give ratings to movies on this platform, which is helpful for people to decide whether someone should watch a specific movie.
Yes, a few films have got 10 out of 10 ratings on IMDB. Some of the movies are Red Sandal Wood (2023), Jomblo Fi Sabilillah (2023), Los de al Lado (2022), The Cage (I) (2021) etc.
It is quite a rare feat for any movie or a TV show to get a rating of 10 out of 10, and some of them have made it possible.
Conclusion:
Even though both IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes are pretty good in their own ways, new users tend to be confused about which to trust and which to ignore. I hope this IMDB vs Rotten Tomatoes comparison may have given you some idea about these two movie review platforms.
If you have any other questions on this topic, do let me know in the comments below, and I’ll talk to you soon. Thanks.
Since 2014 I have been writing about tech and helping others to fix tech issues related to Android, Windows, iOS, Chromebook, and more.
I love to help others to fix any technical issues they might be facing.
