What if you are a loner with no friends to come with you to watch a new movie at a cinema hall, you have no TV to rent DVDs from NetFlix (or BigFlix if you are in India), and very ethical that you do not use Torrent websites? Youtube is here to let people watch new movies streamed right to their computers.
Google is currently in separate discussions with Sony, Warner Bros. and Lions Gate to let users watch new releases from Youtube.com at a cost of $4 a movie. From Youtube’s perspective, this is a refreshing addition to the otherwise depleted think tank. An alternate revenue stream is so desperately needed for a website that is sustaining merely because of advertisements which nobody wants to click and Google’s big pockets.
But will this work? I have my apprehensions about this because as posted in the beginning, who would want to watch new releases all alone silently in your bedroom computer. Besides, streaming over internet is not a flawless model. What if streaming is slow on the day and you do not get the experience worth $4? I understand these are really not problems in a world of high speed internet, but if you look at the other alternatives available, I am afraid the consumers might not find the cost worth it.
Of course, with Youtube XL, customers can also watch it with their family by connecting to the TV, but again the competitor in this market is NetFlix (in the US market – considering that this new launch is likely to not take off to any significant level in India), which has significant tie-ups with XBox, TV manufacturers and Set-top box services and so unless this is something very compelling, the service is not going to entice the audience.
Inspite of these perceived challenges, the new service can pick up if given the right marketing push. I wonder if Google has been able to find the right target audience for this service. If it has, then it shall be exciting to see if this was the elixir that Youtube had been waiting all along for.
