Google has quietly launched a movie rental service on YouTube. Now you can watch selected new and old releases on YouTube for the usual rental prices — $3.99-$4.99 — or in some cases even for free. (Because who wants to pay for a documentary?) The selection is limited at the moment — think more Netflix Canada than iTunes Canada — but expect movie studios to get on board quickly. People are already watching movies on YouTube — the pirated versions of them, anyway. May as well try to earn some money off them.
In addition, Google offers a couple of features the other services don’t provide. You can watch the rentals on any computer where you can access your YouTube account. And now you can conduct Hangouts in Google+ while watching YouTube videos, which makes the movie experience more social than any of Google’s competitors.
Who needs to go to the movie theatres these days?
As a side note, there’s tons of potential for indie filmmakers here. YouTube is already the distribution channel of choice for most indies, and if Google works with them like Amazon works with indie writers through its Kindle Direct Publishing program, then there could be another creative revolution in the film industry. Because judging from the films available in this new movie service, it certainly needs one.