The new service launched on the 22nd January 2010 offering a small selection of 5 films from the Sundance Film Festival but only US residents will [...]]]>

YouTube offers movie rental service

The video sharing website owned by Google has turned its sights to a movie/film rental business and has taken the first steps in offering online rentals.

The new service launched on the 22^nd January 2010 offering a small selection of 5 films from the Sundance Film Festival but only US residents will be able to access the service currently with no UK launch yet announced.

Could this be the future revenue model for the Google owned business?

YouTube will allow content providers to set their own prices and the company will take a cut of the revenue which resembles an iTunes model. The majority of the films made available cost only $3.99 which is the equivalent of £2.50 and can be watched over a 48 hour period.

Of course the latest move by YouTube has set analysts researching and supplying their opinions on what this could mean for the film industry. The interesting point will be when a major studio decides to partner with the video sharing giant – let’s be honest YouTube is pretty big in fact in August 2009 Comscore reported that over 10 billion videos were streamed on the site.

We can’t wait for a proper video renting model to be launched with a great provider which will also include access for mobile phones. I can hear some of you saying mobiles?! Yes mobile phones, look around you and take a trip to your local mobile phone store and see how many phones are available with large 3” screens that are perfect for those moments of travel and boredom.

Over the coming weeks and months more deals and partnerships will be formed meaning more content will be available for us to enjoy – oh that is until YouTube offer it to the UK.

Andrew