YouTube has unveiled their plans in conjunction with the start of the Sundance Film Festival, and all five films that will be available for purchase on YouTube are part of this festival or were shown at the festival last year. Sara Pollack, entertainment market manager for YouTube suggested that it can be extremely difficult for independent movies to gain commercial success, and that YouTube would provide a new outlet for them.
It doesn't appear that YouTube will be adding any classic or new releases to their movie selection in the near future, however they are planning on adding other content to their selection including educational, and health and fitness videos. They are also planning on starting a program named "Filmmakers Wanted," which will give independent producers an opportunity to make their movies available on YouTube at a price of their choice.
I think that YouTube backing independent movies will be beneficial to them, as there is so much other competition from Netflix, Itunes, and cable providers who all offer an extremely wide catalog of movies.
I agree, youtube showing movies will really boost their amount of viewers. That would be nice if they eventually rented out newly released movies and popular movies. Youtube bases their business on how many videos are viewed and how many times those videos are viewed. Everyone enjoys watching movies and this would really boost how many people view their videos.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely view movies on youtube. Being able to access different and independent films for free would also be an added bonus. It also gives up and coming film makers the chance to show their stuff.