YouTube Move To Major Movies
YouTube have always shown movies, some that are exclusive to Youtube, and a library of free older movies in their movie section. But now they are looking to directly compete with Netflix and Apple by launching a new major movies rental service in an effort to boost profits and cash in on being one of the most popular sites on the web.
They are looking to sign official partnerships with major Hollywood film studios (such as Warner Bros., Universal and Sony) and release films around the time of DVD/Blu-ray release, with the intent to rival other online movie rental services such as Netflix and iTunes.
YouTube will also be the latest in a series of major websites to add movie streaming or alternative video in a bid to attract more users, following on from Facebook and Yahoo’s recent announcements.
The video website’s plan is reportedly to host the streaming of major full-length blockbusters, as of next month. The price tag looks set to be fairly reasonable, with starting prices at just $2 or a day’s rental (currently planned to be US-only), but it is planned that prices would obviously raise according to the popularity of the film and the length of rental.
YouTube will be looking to launch their service by hitting the ground running to try and claim business away from Netflix, who currently dominate the US market with over 23.6m subscribers for the online rental service.
Former Netflix boss Robert Kyncl, who is now YouTube’s ‘vice-president of TV and film entertainment’ as part of YouTube’s efforts to make this expansion more professional, had originally suggested the planned launch of the service at an interview a few weeks ago. He said: “Imagine if you had a video store on YouTube, where you could rent or buy the movie without being sent elsewhere. Obviously, there are things coming, but we can’t talk about them yet.”
While Google-owned YouTube, which took in over $544m of revenue last year and recently became profitable, could be taking a risk by moving into uncharted territory, they will also see this as a chance to boost their profits by a big amount should the move be successful. Will the 100 million-strong YouTube public take as kindly to this update?
Latest TV searches:
yu tub, youtubemove, you tobe, yopu tube, you tube move, yuo tobe, yuo tub, You tub, yoo tube, you tube logoRelated News:
- Youtube Expand Movie Section With Over 400 Full Length Movies
- Move Over Funny Cats, Celebrities Coming To Youtube
- Watch full movies on Youtube – but US only for now
- Youtube Gets Serious About Pay Per View
- Youtube Look To Expand Movie Selection With Miramax Deal
[...] have been moving into the movie rental market for over a year, starting with small independent movies. But now they are really ramping up the [...]
[...] site, from raising the length of user submitted video from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. Launching a movie rental service and also launching a channel exclusively for live [...]
[...] time starting with rental of “arty” movies from the Sundance Film Festival, and then offering US movie rentals in May as well as a free selection. The video site consistently has the largest viewer numbers and [...]