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Google's YouTube to test movie rental marketJan 21, 2010 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Eager to make more money from its hugely popular YouTube, Google said Wednesday that it will begin testing a new movie-rental service on the site Friday. Under the experiment, which runs through Sunday in conjunction with the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, YouTube will let people rent five movies from this year's and last year's festivals for $3.99 per downloaded movie. Payment for the movies -- "The Cove," "Bass Ackwards," "One Too Many Mornings," "Homewrecker" and "Children of Invention" -- will be through Google's online Checkout service. "Our goal is to be a comprehensive video destination, and this deal offers up a product that helps us achieve that goal," said YouTube spokesman Chris Dale. "The opportunity for the market in general from our perspective is big, but we wanted to start off with the independent filmmakers to kick the tires." YouTube provided further details in a company blog. "In addition to these five films, a small collection of rental videos from other U.S. partners across different industries, including health and education, will be made available in the weeks ahead," the blog said. "We're also excited to put out the call for more independent filmmakers to join the rental program as part of our "Filmmakers Wanted" campaign at the festival." Although Google's YouTube site has grown enormously popular by offering an eclectic assortment of free and usually short video clips, its only source of revenue for Google is from advertising. As a result, Google has been looking for additional ways to make money from the site. Under the rental movie test, the blog said, filmmakers "can decide the price of their videos and the rental duration," with Google splitting the proceeds with them. "Anything that brings more content to the YouTube community is a good thing," the blog said. "And making content available for rent will give our partners unprecedented control over the distribution of their work." If Google makes a significant move into the movie rental business, it could challenge other companies offering similar services, notably Netflix of Los Gatos, which bills itself as the world's largest online movie rental business. In response to Google's announcement, Netflix spokesman Steve Swasey replied, "it's a wide open market and a lot of companies are looking at it." But, he added, "Netflix is confident with its subscription model." Contact Steve Johnson at 408-920-5043. To see more of the San Jose Mercury News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.mercurynews.com. Copyright (c) 2010, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |