YouTube says rental test was a success

YouTube's trial of an online video rental service involving independent movies linked to the Sundance Film Festival was a success, the site has claimed.

Thursday, 4 February 2010

According to the New York Times, the five movies available for rental over a period of ten days between January 22nd and January 31st received 2,684 views in total.

This means that YouTube made $10,709 (£6,746) in revenues, as each rental was priced at $3.99 (£2.51).

Chris Dale, spokesman for YouTube, says that the test managed to surpass the online video website's expectations "given all the barriers", explaining that the experience of watching a film on the web is still quite new.

He adds that YouTube will now work on making the service "more robust" over the next few months.

"A lot of movie studios that are partners of ours have content that they feel is more appropriate for a transactional model than an advertising model," he states.

YouTube first announced the rental initiative last month and emphasised the control that content providers would have over their videos.

It said that copyright owners would be able to move films from the rental service to YouTube's ad-supported scheme if they so wished and can set the price and the duration of the rental.

The site has since invited a number of partners to take part in the rental scheme as part of a beta testing initiative.

Related stories:

• YouTube enters film rental market

• Google considers charging for YouTube

• YouTube now streaming full UK TV shows