Back in May, YouTube launched online film rental services in the US and Canada as it endeavoured to expand from an online locale for sharing homemade videos to a commercial site for online film and television streaming. Now, the Google-owned video site has undertaken the same notion over in the UK, with over a thousand full-length feature films now available for rent in the UK at youtube.com/movies. YouTube are placed in direct competition with Amazon’s ‘LoveFilm’ which offers a pay-monthly subscription service for DVD rental. However YouTube has an advantage with an average of 100million unique monthly visitors in its reach and with the unique offering of a pay-as-you-go rental there is no pressure to watch a certain number of films to get our money’s worth – the no commitment option we all irrefutably prefer. YouTube has also quickly cottoned on to cleverly using its huge database of existing footage to help sell its film rental service: when browsing for a film to watch, users are linked to trailers, making-of documentaries and highlight clips hand-picked from the site’s content archives to help make decisions and enhance the experience. Google has even launched a new film rental service for Android phone and tablet users so UK users can rent films via the Android Market.

As these films have the potential to be supported by unskippable ads, and offer advertisers guaranteed audiences through analysis of consumer search history – will Google capitalise this opportunity by placing this media space on the market to advertisers?

I also question whether the rise in DVD rental ‘on demand’ will lead to the disappearance of DVD stores? And whether it will ultimately lead to a decline in cinema attendance, or will cinema hold onto its novelty as an experience?

I must admit I feel a little unsure about the current offering. The crop of films presently available is not especially stellar – including missable titles such as ‘Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned’ and ‘Blackberry Babes’. And given that it represents Google’s entry into paid, on-demand content delivery, this is sure to be the tip of the proverbial iceberg? YouTube has stirred controversy by adding profitable content onto a site which has long been a platform for YOU the users to upload free videos and content. But people can’t expect to uphold their assumed right to free music and media endlessly. YouTube has smartly taken the initiative to try and establish itself as a leader in a market that was realistically always going to form. And as we’ll soon likely be able to watch a new-release for £2 through a personal laptop without any pop-ups or viruses, I can see no reason to complain.

As far as DVD stores go, I guess they’ll go the same way as most clothes brands. Selfridges London is split into brand concessions which are typically relatively small. They know that customers will go there, look at a pair of shoes, then go home and buy them online instead. Essentially you still need the showroom, but you stock less and have less staff because it really just becomes another form of advertising.

I guess time will tell how successful online film rentals will be…