Did you know you can rent movies on YouTube? It’s true, the video giant has been providing movie rentals for some time now. However, its library has been quite dismal, providing older and less popular titles than pretty much every other video on demand provider. That’s about to change now that they’ve finally secured all the major studios such as Warner, Universal, Sony, Lionsgate and others.
Will YouTube fare well in such a fiercely competitive market? Will you part with your hard earned cash to enjoy flicks on a platform many already use for more personal entertainment?
A VOD Capable Platform?
Well, I suppose that’s a bit of a silly question seeing as how YouTube is one of the most popular and capable platforms available for people to share video. However, it was built for people to share video clips, not for viewing full movies and its interface really shows that.
I thought I’d give it a quick whirl and see how the process worked and whether or not I’d actually enjoy browsing, renting and viewing titles.
Browsing
YouTube’s movie browsing interface is just… horrible. It’s not anywhere near the quality of purpose built platforms like Netflix or iTunes, both in terms of overall design and usability. I suppose that’s to be expected for being such a fresh entrant into a very competitive market, but it’s certainly not going to win over any existing Netflix or competing platform users.
Browsing
There are, of course, a few nice touches that are only to be expected such as move info. pop-ups on hover and the ability to quickly add titles to your favorites, watch later or playlists. As more titles become available, a far better interface will need to come along as well.
Renting
Renting is pretty easy but on my initial attempt I was greeted with a lovely, “Sorry, this video cannot be rented right now. Please try again later.” My first thought was that the movie simply wasn’t ready for renting, but as I continued to explore additional titles, it became apparent that may not be the issue.
Not Available
I thought there might be an issue with my form of payment so I went and checked on that. Sure enough, my card had expired so I updated my information. On my second try, renting went through without an issue. However, this is a prime example of poor usability. Rather than telling me the video wasn’t available, why not tell me I need to update my method of payment?
Renting
Another potential issue is that you have no idea how long the rental lasts, what kind of quality is offered or any other important details. Visiting YouTube’s “Learn more about YouTube Rentals” page didn’t offer much more helpful information either.
And then the purchase receipt showed up via email, which actually does mention the details of your rental. Thanks, but that’s not all that helpful now that I’ve already purchased the video. YouTube’s Rental Process page also has some conflicting information.
Rental Details
Well, without getting further into the mess of things, it’s safe to say the system needs quite a few improvements. Come on Google, we expect better from you!
Viewing
The part of the system I was most concerned about is how the viewing experience was going to be. Other platforms like Hulu and Netflix have pretty advanced players that offer features like “dim the lights”, HD quality, etc. YouTube’s player is just the typical player, as expected, and really lacks the cinema feel (or at least attempt).
Watching Movie
Playback was generally smooth, but wasn’t exactly responsive when I tried to skip to a specific part of the video. Several times the video just hung on the animated loading icon and required a full page refresh to reload the video. These kinds of issues just won’t fly with movie aficionados.
Pricing
While I can’t speculate too much on pricing, pretty much all the videos were not more than a couple dollars. However, Google does specify that they will range up to $19.95, which seems like a pretty steep price for any sort of rental (except maybe if the video is still in theaters).
Final Thoughts
YouTube Rentals is obviously in its infancy but Google has a pretty good track record of useful and powerful web apps. So, with time and further development, it could certainly turn into a very usable platform for rentals, especially with the power of Google pushing it. Now that they’ve secured the major studios we’ll have to wait and see how it performs and develops over time.
Having said that, Google has a long ways to go and some very stiff competition. If Google TV is any indication of YouTube Rentals’ future, it may not be a bright one. Here’s to hoping Google can pull a rabbit out of its magic hat.
Have you used YouTube Rentals yet? Do you think you’ll be using it much in the near future?