A Conversation with IMDB's CEO Col Needham

I got the chance to speak with Col Needham, albeit briefly back in November as part of an event at the University of Leeds. I was born in the 90s and grew up at the height of the internet revolution. I remember my family being the first on our street to get a computer and Windows 95. We were ahead of the curve. Only a few short years later we were behind it as everyone else on the street now had Windows 98. I remember the days of VHS tapes and getting a fine at the video shop if you didn't rewind before you returned. I remember the days of dial up and having to get off the internet because your ma was on the landline phone. I always spent way to much time on the internet as a kid. I grew up fascinated by film and tv almost as much as I was by books. I wasted way too much time on the internet movie database and unintentionally became an encyclopaedia of knowledge of tv film and trivia as a result of this (I always trump in the pop culture rounds in pub quizzes!) 

My writing is a little rusty, its three years since I finished my degree at the Open University and have spent much of the last three years writing in more administrative roles.

The below was meant to be published in the Gryphon, Leeds University's student newspaper but has not yet so I thought I would share it below:

How to Turn a Hobby into Millions – CEO of IMDB visit Leeds Uni

Tuesday 14^th November 2023

4-5PM as a part of Media Futures

Chemistry Building

Have you ever been watching a film or television show and thought, “Who is that?” Chances are you have then googled the name and been brought up to IMDB. IMDB, short for the Internet Movie Database, is the largest database of pop culture information on the internet. Founded in October 1990, Mr Col Needham is the CEO, founder and a Leeds University graduate.

I’ve been a fan of iMDB since I first created an account back in 2005 so when Mr Needham came to visit the University on Tuesday 14^th November, as part of the School of Media and Communications, Media Futures seminar of lectures.  it was very exciting for me to get a chance to speak with him in person.

“The best way to capture the attention of an audience is to bribe them” Col begins. He then flashes a £30 Amazon voucher in front of us and asks us to tell us what the following films have in common; “About Time, Wolf of Wallstreet…” Almost immediately one student gives the correct answer, ‘Margot Robbie’

In 2023 IMDB has a global reach. *As of March 2022 the website had 83 million registered users and currently lists over 10.1 million titles* however the website began over 33 years ago in Bristol in 1990.

Mr Needham tells the audience a personal anecdote. When he was a boy his Grandma encouraged him to enter a colouring competition, colouring a picture of Snow White. He grabbed some pens and was colouring all over the place and outside the lines. Surprisingly he won first place and the prize was tickets to Snow White at the Odeon.  This is where he fell in love with film and saw the first Star Wars in the 1970s. Back in those days the TV only had three channels. In 1979 he got a home computer which he built himself. It had 256MB of memory. He would rent VHS tapes from the video shop and loved reading the TV credits. In 1989 for his fellow film fans he was able to bring people together. He is a big believer in tech and visual media and believes in film as a way to bring people together.

In October of 1990 he had the idea for IMDB and the first version was published. Later a PHD student from Cardiff e-mailed him talking about World Wide News. The student said they would write a wrapper. The traffic to imdb kept doubling. He was able to sell some advertising in 1995, in 1996 he brought the first web server. That summer IMDB launched a film related advertising campaign for the movie independence day and he was able to quit his day job at Hewlett Packard.

Alan Caplan the head of Amazon called Col in asking for a meeting with himself and Jeff Bezos. In April 1998, IMDB became a subsidiary of Amazon, one of the conditions of the sale was that all original IMDB employees keep their job. Amazon announced three acquisitions on the same day. Amazon then launched a video store then downloadable film. There is also a feature called Xray on Amazon prime, meaning when you watch a documentary. Headshots showing a filmography are powered by IMDB. Amazon launched the voice activated software Alexa in 2015.

In 2017 Mr Needham made the controversial decision to close the IMDB message boards. The message boards were a pinnacle of communication. Reddit before reddit existed if you will. “Why did you close the message boards?” I asked him “Don’t you think they were a good way of communication and sharing knowledge about films and tv? “A toxic wastedump” Mr Needham responded. There you have it.

Mr Needham closes the talk with a confession. Turns out his love his film began with a fraudulent colouring competition. Years later his grandma confessed she cheated. Sometimes you have to learn to colour outside the lines in life.

Following the event Mr Needham later introduced a screening of the film ‘The Kid’ at the Hyde Park Picture House.

Media Futures Events are run every Tuesday from 4-5PM during term time and hosted by the School of Media and Communications.  For further information on Media Futures events please click  here

*This is the most up to date statistic I could find online and may not be entirely correct.