YouTube Movie Rentals: Google, You Can Do Better

If Google wants to be a John R. Major player in the burgeoning movie-cyclosis commercialize, why is advancing in so much namby-pamby fashion? The company announced Monday that its YouTube video military service would add some 3,000 unweathered movie rental titles for users in the United States. So if you're dying to watch classics such as Epoch or Thirst for $2.99 each, now's your run a risk.

Update 5/09, 2020- 4:30 P.M. PDT: Actually, it turns out I just arrived excessively early. Newer movies and an improved user user interface are beingness rolled out today, so if you're still seeing the of age UI below, be destined to contain back soon."

Google contacted me around this a a couple of minutes past. Sorry for the error.

YouTube's annuity in advance service appears to be part of Google's master plan to transform its video-moving site from an amusing diversion to a major amusement address. But if Google plans to turn YouTube into a profit-generating amusement powerhouse–a fierce competitor to Netflix, Hulu Nonnegative, iTunes, and Amazon–IT sure is taking its sweet time.

There's nary doubting YouTube's popularity. The service is available on 350 million devices and gets more than 2 billion views a years, Google says. But people Don't stick about real seven-day–and the vast majority of users aren't paying to view.

"But you're spending just 15 minutes a day happening YouTube, and spending Phoebe hours a day watching TV. As the lines betwixt online and offline continue to blur, we think that's going to change," writes YouTube chief Salar Kamangar on The Authoritative YouTube Blog.

What are Google's long-term intentions for YouTube? With the recent plunge of YouTube Live, which features live events like last calendar month's Royal Wedding, it would appear Google is positioning YouTube to compete with broadcast and cable Television receiver too.

The next step? Maybe Google will launch a telecasting-streaming subscription service that competes directly with Netflix. Or maybe it'll just buy Netflix instead.

Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com .