Key Takeaways
- You can get paid to watch movies, movie trailers, and videos through various websites and apps like InboxDollars and Swagbucks earning anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars per video.
- Participating in focus groups, categorizing movies for Netflix, working as an in-theater checker, or becoming a closed captioner or voiceover artist are more intensive ways to earn money related to watching movies.
- Starting a movie review blog or YouTube channel or working at a movie theater can provide a steady income stream while allowing you to watch movies as part of your job or content creation process.
10 Ways to Get Paid to Watch Movies
Watch Movie Previews on InboxDollars
InboxDollars Summary
- $5 sign up bonus
- Referral program – 30% that referral makes
- Most of the surveys pay $0.01 to $2.50
- 13 different ways to earn money
- Get paid to read emails and play games
- Over $80 million in cash rewards paid
InboxDollars is a web-based rewards site that makes watching movie trailers enjoyable and beneficial, which you’d otherwise be doing in your free time anyway. With InboxDollars, you can earn money by watching movie preview videos worth a few minutes each.
As a new user, you’ll get a sign-up bonus of $5 that opens the door for hundreds of videos, movie previews, playlists, and news. Once you’re in, you can earn up to $200 monthly.
You have multiple options to claim your InboxDollars earnings, such as:
- Withdraw cash via check
- Redeem your rewards for gift cards
- Get a prepaid Visa card
Watch Movies & Videos on Swagbucks
Swagbucks Summary
- 18 ways to earn money and e-gift cards
- $5 sign up bonus
- Up to 10% cashback when shopping online
- $1 minimum e-gift card withdrawal
- Watch videos and play games for $
- Legit platform – paid $500 mil to users
Swagbucks is another reward-based website where you can participate in multiple paid online tasks, including watching:
- Movies
- Movie trailers
- Celebrity videos
You can later redeem your rewards for gift cards or cash. Even though the website doesn’t have blockbuster movies, who wouldn’t love to get paid to watch movies at home, right?
Regarding Swagbuck’s earning potential, you can earn around $0.02 for every 30 videos you watch.
You’ll get a $5 sign-up bonus when you join Swagbucks.
Watch Movies with Nielsen
Nielsen Summary
- Earn up to $60/year by installing an app
- Earn up to $1000 from sweepstakes
- 15 different types of rewards
- Win up to $500 by downloading PC app
Nielsen is an app known that’s rating television programs. The app tracks your TV-watching history to analyze what you’re interested in watching and when. All you need to do is download and install the app, and you’re on your way to earning $60 a year.
Nielson tracks your watching tendencies to determine audience ratings. The app doesn’t store or share your personal information with any third party.
Keep a lookout for winning extra cash and prizes through contests on the app each month.
Participate in a Focus Group
A Focus group is a type of research where you participate in a study of up to 12 people. And participating in focus groups is one of the best ways to get paid to see movies.
You can participate in a focus group to provide essential feedback on movie productions. The study’s purpose may be to determine how the audience perceives the movie.
You can participate in a focus group to provide honest feedback and get paid for it. Participating in paid focus groups can earn you around $50 – $150 an hour.
Categorize Movies for Netflix
You can categorize movies and TV shows for Netflix and earn money for them. Netflix hires people as Movie Taggers to help them tag and categorize movies and shows through thousands of options.
Your job as a Movie tagger is to watch movies and TV shows available on Netflix. Once you do that, you’ll need to add keywords that users will most likely type while searching for a specific movie or show.
As a Netflix Movie Tagger, you can earn up to $300 a week by watching movies and shows and tagging them.
The only drawback is that the Movie Tagger job rarely opens up. But I recommend you watch the Netflix job board to get it when they have an open position.
Do In-Theater Checks
ZipRecruiter Summary
- Top-rated app and job search engine
- Simple, 1-tap job application process
- Over 30 different job categories
- More than 7.5 million jobs posted each day
One of the coolest ways to get paid to watch movies is to do in-theater checks.
For example, the most enjoyable option is to watch a brand-new movie to earn $30.
However, other jobs of an in-theater checker may include:
- Sneak Check – watch movie previews to understand the audience’s reactions clearly.
- Blind Check – count the number of people entering the theater every day.
- Open Checks – collect information on people who are attending various showtimes.
- Ad Checks: gather information on the audience demographics by watching sneak previews of future releases shown right before the movie starts.
To find a job as an in-theater checker, check your local job boards or talk directly to the recruiter in your local movie theater.
Pro tip: Visit ZipRecruiter to find an open job position at a movie theater near you.
Start a Movie Review Blog or Youtube Channel
You can start a movie review blog or YouTube channel to earn money by watching movies. You’ll watch as many movies as you like and provide a thorough review on either your blog or a YouTube channel.
If you’re wondering how you’ll make money through a blog or YouTube channel, there are multiple ways to monetize them:
- Place Google AdSense ads
- Add affiliate links
- Publish sponsored content
Of course, the initial growth may take time but as long as you consistently create original content, your blog or channel will gain recognition at one point.
Work as a Closed Captioner
Working as a Closed Captioner, your job will be to type out the subtitles you see on screen while watching a movie or a TV show. It can be fun if you think you have what it takes to type out the exact audio.
Pro tip: The easier route would be to start by captioning videos that portray your native language or accent.
Depending on your company, a closed captioner can earn an average of $10 to $75 per hour.
Work as a Voiceover Artist
Fiverr Summary
- Set your own prices for your services
- Choose from over 500 service categories
- 3 different options for cashing out
- Protection from fradulent chargebacks
Working as a voiceover artist might be an interesting job to get paid to watch movies.
Since voice-over artists are paid per job, you can earn from as low as $20 to a few hundred dollars for just an hour of work.
However, a voiceover job cannot be obtained overnight without any experience. So, if you plan to go that route, you should get voiceover training, practice out loud, record demos, and then look for paid voiceover gigs in your area.
One of the best platforms to find voiceover gigs is Fiverr.
Work at a Movie Theater
Working at a movie theater can be the most effortless form of making money watching movies.
Technically, you’ll get paid to do your job as an usher, an attendant, or a manager. But while you do so, you can watch movies simultaneously.
Most of these jobs are paid hourly and depend on which movie theater you’re working at and your location. But on average, you can earn around $90 per day, given that the average hourly rate for movie theater jobs is $13.28.
Here’s the list of some of the most common positions and how much they offer:
| Position | Mean Hourly Rate | Mean Annual Wage |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders | $20.78 | $43,220 |
| Cashiers | $11.83 | $24,600 |
| Entertainment Attendants and Related Workers | $12.84 | $26,710 |
| Motion Picture Projectionists | $15.71 | $32,680 |