14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube has offered movie rentals for about a year now, but the catalogue has been far from appealing for the mainstream audience. That's about to change as YouTube is expected to start offering a big library of popular and current titles from major Hollywood studios, becoming a true competitor to the likes of Apple's iTunes and Amazon, at least in terms of movies available.
There's nothing official at this point, but The Wrap first uncovered the news, saying a launch is coming within a week or two, something that's been verified by others as well.
Apparently, YouTube has major studios such as Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Brothers and Universal as well as Lionsgate and some distributors on board already. Paramount and Fox haven't been convinced so far and Disney's participation hasn't been confirmed.
Once, and if, the new content hits YouTube, users, probably only in the US at first, will have access to hundreds or thousands of new titles, movies that many people will actually want to watch.
YouTube already offers movie rentals, but it has only been long tail stuff so far. New content would bring it on par with major competitors such as Apple and Amazon.
But that's part of the problem, people have had places where to get online video rentals for a while now and they haven't proven hugely popular either. It's hard to see why YouTube would fare any better.
Of course, it's the largest video website around with a potential audience of 130 million in the US, but this hasn't meant much until now. Granted the content wasn't great either, so this may change. YouTube isn't talking about the new deals, but, apparently, it's rather excited about the opportunities.
On the other side, the studios are obviously happy to see another big player renting movies a la carte rather than on a subscription basis like Netflix, but seeing as this type of service hasn't been a huge earner so far, the enthusiasm is moderated. Along with the new content, YouTube may also be planning to launch a revamped movie rental page.