IMDB is an online database full of information about films, TV shows, and other types of content.
In this tutorial, I’ll show how to connect the IMDB REST API to Google Sheets in 5 steps:
Apipheny is an API connector for Google Sheets. You can use Apipheny to connect your Google Sheets to unlimited API data sources, make unlimited API requests, and more. There is a 30 day free trial included.
1.) Install Apipheny by opening the following link on desktop and then clicking the Install button in the Google Marketplace: https://apipheny.io/install
2.) After you’ve installed Apipheny, open a Google Sheet and then click on the Extensions dropdown in the menu at the top.
In the dropdown list you should see Apipheny. Click Apipheny then click Import API to open the Apipheny sidebar in your Google Sheet.
Tip: you can open a new Google Sheet by entering this URL in your browser: sheet.new
Next, log in to your IMDB developer account.
In your developer account dashboard, click on your username:
In the Profile section, click the Profile option:
On this Profile page, you will find your API key:
Copy and paste your API key to safe location, because you’ll need it in the next steps.
In this section, we’ll show you how to browse the IMBD API documentation to find a specific API endpoint URL that retrieves the information you need from IMDB.
If you already know your API URL, or you want to use the same example URL as us, just skip to Step 4.
First, open the IMBD API documentation page: https://imdb-api.com/api
The main page contains a list of categorized IMBD API endpoints:
If you click an endpoint, for example FullCast, you’ll be redirected to that endpoint’s section:
If you click the little arrow next to the endpoint, you will expand the endpoint details.
For example, the FullCast endpoint returns the full cast/crew and actors/actresses of Movie or Series TV. Here is the URL for that specific endpoint:
https://imdb-api.com/en/API/FullCast/your_key/id
If you use this URL, don’t forget to replace your_key with your API key and id with a valid IMDB id.
Each endpoint’s documentation contains the endpoint’s HTTP method (eg. GET) and URL structure, a paragraph describing the endpoint’s purpose, a table listing the required parameters, and a section with formatted URL examples:
All API calls to the IMDB API should be made to the https://imdb-api.com/en/API/ base domain.
Now, the final steps to get your IMDB data in your Google Sheet is to go back to your Google Sheet and make sure that you’ve installed the Apipheny add-on and you have it opened to the “Import” tab. In the Import Tab of Apipheny, enter the following details into the add-on:
Method: At the top of the Apipheny sidebar, select the HTTP method (GET or POST) required by your IMDB API endpoint. For this example, we are using the “GET” method.
API URL: In Step 3, we explained how you can find the IMDB API endpoint that you need. Now copy your complete IMDB API URL into the Apipheny add-on, in the field that says API URL Path (JSON / CSV), followed by any GET parameters required for your query (if applicable).
For this example, we are using the SearchMovie endpoint, which returns the search results for a specific expression. The corresponding URL for this endpoint is:
https://imdb-api.com/en/API/SearchMovie/key/expression
If you want to follow the same example as us, just copy and paste this URL into the add-on, but replace key with your API key and expression with the movie title you want to search for.
Headers are not required for this API request, so you can leave that section blank in Apipheny.
Here’s what your IMDB API request should look like when entered into Apipheny:
The last step to get IMDB data into your Google Sheet is to click the Run button at the bottom of the Apipheny add-on. After clicking Run, your IMDB data will be imported into your Google Sheets. Congratulations!
After making a successful request to the IMDB API, try querying a different IMDB API endpoint, or try using one of the more advanced features in the Apipheny add-on, such as:
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