Not too long ago, YouTube had started a service through which users could watch hundreds of free movies. However, the choice was limited and consisted largely of old movies that were no longer in demand. This is about to change now.
For quite some time now, YouTube has been one of the most popular sites on the Internet and provides its users with a variety of content ranging from personally made videos to sporting events, live concerts, breaking news and a lot more.
They have now expanded this service by tying up with some major Hollywood studios to roll out about 3,000 titles for rental in due course of time. These movies will be accompanied by reviews from popular movie rating site Rotten Tomatoes and behind-the-scenes information.
New releases for rent on YouTube Movies
Some of the major studios that have agreed to tie-up with YouTube for this service include Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros, Universal pictures and Lionsgate.
Older movies such as ‘Good Fellas’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ will be available for a lower fee of $2.99. New releases such as ‘Inception’ and ‘The King’s Speech’ will be charged at $3.99. Movies that were previously offered for free will remain free to view on the new service as well.
This service is expected directly compete with sites such as Netflix and Redbox. However, these sites are currently priced a lot cheaper than YouTube, and so YouTube might eventually have to rethink their pricing strategy, which currently seems closer to old-fashioned rental services such as Blockbuster.
Expanded movie rental services from YouTube will help to further consolidate the video-sharing site’s position in the market, while at the same time narrowing the gap between online video and television.
This service has only been started in the U.S. as of now, and it will serve their 105 million customers. Once Google expands this service and realigns prices in other regions such as Europe and Asia, they could make it a real success as online rental services are not very popular there and theirs would be the only popular service to offer immediate legitimate streaming movies.
Happy Feet movie rental page with reviews, previews and related videos
