Video stores and DVDs are on their way to extinction, and YouTube's addition of streaming movie rentals is another reason why. After 16 months, YouTube Movies has now buffed up its offerings with 3,000 new titles, for a total of 6,000, which is a respectable start to going head to head with Netflix, iTunes and Amazon. The big news: the availability of major studio titles such as "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1," "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech" available simultaneously with its DVD release.
These high-profile movies are featured at the very top of the main movie page in a scroll-through bar that makes it easy to quickly scan what YouTube provides, and it does pack in some recent heavyweights, as well as more light-hearted fare, such as "Little Fockers" and "Despicable Me."
The Associated Press reported that major studios signed up with YouTube include NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers. YouTube is the latest contender in a crowded field led by Netflix, which has added more than 13 million customers during the past two years thanks to its streaming subscriptions. By contrast, Netflix has 20,000 titles in its streaming arsenal, for upwards of $8 a month. But, unlike YouTube movies, its movies are rarely available at the same time as the DVD release.
While there are hundreds of free movies on YouTube, rentals start at $2.99 for 24 hours (with a 30-day grace period to start that 24 hours), with the big hits costing a buck more, which is just about what you'd pay if you were to drag yourself to the video store. With gas prices what they are, more folks might think twice about even that five-minute trip to the store, unless they've already Redboxed it on the way home.
Hovering over the titles reveals a quick synopsis, price, running time, major stars and its Rotten Tomatoes review percentage. Clicking onto the title opens up a page with all that info, plus: full Rotten Tomatoes reviews, a trailer, full cast listing and suggestions for similar movies.
Where YouTube does show a little creativity is in some of its pre-selected collections: "Insanely Awesome Car Chases" and "For Medicinal Use Only" sound not only like MTV Video Awards categories, but also feature appropriately placed vids like "Fast and Furious" and "Smokey and the Bandit" (for the former) and "Dazed and Confused" and "Friday" (for the latter).
While more are used to the more amateur aspects of YouTube, with its more than 2 billion views per day and 35 hours of video uploaded every minute, these commercial offerings may appeal to those who are used to a slicker production value, and are already used to watching their movies on a computer (no word yet on streaming devices). Here's another fact from YouTube that may make their competitors sweat a little: "More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three major U.S. networks created in 60 years."