YouTube challenges iTunes with lauch of new movies-on-demand service
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YouTube will very soon be launching a movie-on-demand service charging users to stream mainstream Hollywood movies off its site.
The new service is a decisive move to rival Apple’s iTunes service – currently the most successful player in paid video streaming.
The deal, which was first reported by The Wrap, is bound to be a welcome new revenue stream for Hollywood as home entertainment revenues continue their steep decline.
According to The Wrap the new service may start as early as this week or next, and is expected to be announced soon by YouTube.
Major studios including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal have licensed their movies for the new service, as have numerous independent studios, including Lionsgate and the library-rich Kino Lorber, according to movie executives with knowledge of the deals in place.
YouTube has been trying to bring all the major Hollywood studios on board before announcing it. But so far Paramount, Fox and Disney have declined to join.
YouTube itself says that they have so far rented movies for a year, but are declining to comment on the broader initiative it is about to launch the new service with the major studios on board.
"We've steadily been adding more and more titles since launching movies for rent on YouTube over a year ago, and now have thousands of titles available," a spokesperson said. "Outside of that, we don't comment on rumor or speculation."
But according to The Wrap the video giant has never rented mainstream movies on this scale during the traditional DVD window.
The major studios, who were once sceptical of YouTube - even seeing it as a threat - now see it as a potentially lucrative platform.
“We think it will start with VOD, but broaden to include sell-through over time,” a senior executive at one Hollywood studio that has signed the deal with YouTube told The Wrap.
“We are pretty excited because we are happy to see new entrants come in transactionally rather than a subscription model.”
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terencechisholm
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Well that all makes sense... and is probably about time too. But I won't likely use it. It kind of freaks me out a bit when I am on a site and google knows I searched recently for a dentist and all their adwords on other sites show dentists.
When you watch stuff on youtube, even if you regret it or are offended by it, youtube keeps recommending similar videos - and I can't switch it off! If you pay for a movie that turns out crap, how many other crap recommendations are you likely to get? Surely they should let users manage the types of things they keep recommending to you? Or if they already do, they should make it clearer how it is done.
There's so much they already know about us, and it would be better if they shared some of the ability to edit it as well, so that like Facebook's privacy settings, you can manage things better and not feel like you have no control over what this company says or thinks it knows about you. It's all getting a bit "Big Brother" to me???
- 1 year ago
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terencechisholm
