Video-sharing service, YouTube has launched its movie rental service in the United Kingdom with thousands of blockbusters and classics. After the US and Canada, UK is the third country in which the Google-owned site has started its movie rental services. This makes the site a contender to the position of market leadership in the business vis a vis Amazon’s LoveFilm which claims to have some 1.6 million customers in the Europe and the UK.
Senior director of content partnerships for YouTube in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Patricia Walker, said, “We are happy to be working with partners of all sizes to bring more content to YouTube users. In addition to clips, user-created and long-form TV content our British users know and love, now movie lovers can find full-length feature films on YouTube in the UK.”
Film lovers will be able to choose from between new releases of full length-movies like Fast Five and Hanna to established popular movies like Reservoir Dogs and the Dark Knight. Fans of English movies don’t need to despair, YouTube’s online library also has movies like Lock, Stock and Smoking Barrels, and, Monty Python’s Meaning of Life.
The launch of the UK movie rental service follows longstanding deals with broadcasters, including Channel 4 and Channel 5, who make their programs available on the site.
Viewers need to shell out either $ 2.49 or $ 3.49 to rent a movie and the newer releases are generally priced higher. Users are given a 30-day period to watch a movie, once it is downloaded and 48 hours to view it once the ‘Play’ button is clicked on. It is helpful to know that within this time frame, you can cram in as many viewings as you want.
There are a few freebies thrown in too. Some movies, most notable being Wild Things, are available to watch for free, could be as an appetizer for the viewers.
As far as the technical specifications go, the movies rented on YouTube are delivered in 480p, approximate equivalent of standard-definition DVD quality for use on PCs, Google TV, Android tablets and smartphones or a HDTV connected to a Motorola Xoom’s HDMI Port. Whether, in the future, YouTube will offer HD versions is not known yet. But, what is known is that Google plans to expand the YouTube movie experience by including movie extras feature including free behind-the-scene videos, parodies, cast interviews, remixes and related clips from the YouTube community.
To enable movie rentals, YouTube has entered into UK-specific deals with Hollywood film companies including Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Universal and Lionsgate. The website has also inked deals with British studio, Revolver Entertainment.
With more than 100 million unique monthly viewers, according to Nielsen, YouTube is by far the busiest video websites. The service launched its video-on-demand service in the US in May and in Canada in September.
If you are based in the UK, you can visit youtube.com/movies and access more than a thousand feature films from Hollywood blockbusters to British classics.