Rachel_Sandford
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Last May, Google-owned video site YouTube launched its video-on-demand service in the United States. With over 100 million unique monthly viewers, the busiest video website online is now renting movies on demand as part of its move away from the short low-quality clips that made the site so popular. Shortly afterward it was launched in Canada.
This month the site releases its movie rental service in the United Kingdom, making it the third country to have the service. Launching with over 1,000 blockbusters, the site announced the availability of the service via Blogspot. Bringing the service to the UK follows the site's longstanding deals with broadcasters that make their programmes available on the site, such as Channel 4 and 5.
In order to get the rights to movies, the website signed UK-specific deals with film companies like Entertainment One, Lionsgate, Metrodome, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Universal, and Revolver Entertainment, which produced Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon.
Recent films like The Dark Knight, Hanna, Fast Five, and Red Riding Hood are all available, so are some classics like The Birds, Reservoir Dogs, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Anyone with a YouTube account can begin renting films from the site. New releases will be rented out for £3.49 and older films will go between £2.49 and £3.49. Subscribers are given 30 days to watch the movie and 48 hours to finish once they've started viewing it. Many movies will also come with extras, like interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes clips, documentaries, parodies, remixes, etc. The films can be viewed on any computer so long as the user has signed into their YouTube account, but it can also be viewed through Android devices and Google TV.
“We're happy to be working with partners of all sizes to bring more content to YouTube users,” said Patrick Walker, YouTube's senior director of partnerships in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. “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.”
YouTube's video-on-demand service puts it in direct competition with other VoD services, such as those of Apple, PlayStation, Xbox, and Amazon's LoveFilm, which is supposed to have 1.6 million customers in the UK and Europe.
Currently, the #1 rental on YouTube is “Exit Through the Gift Shop” by Banksy, a famous street artist.
This month the site releases its movie rental service in the United Kingdom, making it the third country to have the service. Launching with over 1,000 blockbusters, the site announced the availability of the service via Blogspot. Bringing the service to the UK follows the site's longstanding deals with broadcasters that make their programmes available on the site, such as Channel 4 and 5.
In order to get the rights to movies, the website signed UK-specific deals with film companies like Entertainment One, Lionsgate, Metrodome, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., Universal, and Revolver Entertainment, which produced Talihina Sky: The Story of Kings of Leon.
Recent films like The Dark Knight, Hanna, Fast Five, and Red Riding Hood are all available, so are some classics like The Birds, Reservoir Dogs, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Anyone with a YouTube account can begin renting films from the site. New releases will be rented out for £3.49 and older films will go between £2.49 and £3.49. Subscribers are given 30 days to watch the movie and 48 hours to finish once they've started viewing it. Many movies will also come with extras, like interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes clips, documentaries, parodies, remixes, etc. The films can be viewed on any computer so long as the user has signed into their YouTube account, but it can also be viewed through Android devices and Google TV.
“We're happy to be working with partners of all sizes to bring more content to YouTube users,” said Patrick Walker, YouTube's senior director of partnerships in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. “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.”
YouTube's video-on-demand service puts it in direct competition with other VoD services, such as those of Apple, PlayStation, Xbox, and Amazon's LoveFilm, which is supposed to have 1.6 million customers in the UK and Europe.
Currently, the #1 rental on YouTube is “Exit Through the Gift Shop” by Banksy, a famous street artist.