I’m working for a website that I call “database-oriented”, meaning it is similar to IMDb (but for a different field, of course), as it’s based on a rich database of names, works and places, all linked to each other.
Given that it has little to no editorial content, because it’s essentially names, titles, dates, roles, facts aggregated from different sources, is it likely that the content of this website might not be considered as “original content” by search engines, thus penalizing its ranking in search results?
UPDATE: (A few more details about the website, following closetnoc's comment)
The site has been online since 10 years and is now, I think, an "authority site" in its field and country. It has roughly 1000 unique visitors per day, which I think is not bad given its target audience.
Also, to clarify, the purpose of the website is definitely not to steal data and visits from other sites and make free money this way! It represents thousands of hours researching, aggregating, and correcting data, and links back to every linkable source that has been used. It still doesn't really make any money by the way.