Facebook becomes video rental outlet in U.S.
Facebook and Warner Bros. are testing out a new service for American Facebook users: for 30 Facebook Credits (around three dollars), you can rent a movie and watch it over Facebook.
Once a rental is made, you can watch the film for 48 hours. It can be paused and fast-forwarded, and re-watched as many times as you want during those 48 hours. Currently, the only film available through this service is The Dark Knight, but other titles are coming.
"Facebook has become a daily destination for hundreds of millions of people," Thomas Gewecke, president of Warner Bros. digital distribution, said in a release.
"Making our films available through Facebook is a natural extension of our digital distribution efforts. It gives consumers a simple, convenient way to access and enjoy our films through the world's largest social network."
It’s not a business plan without merit; the liking and commenting that users can add to movies is like free advertising to the film distributors, since all those likes and comments will show up in the news feeds of friends. Beyond that, the fact that they are giving users access to friend-recommended movies with a click of the mouse certainly seems like a benefit to the bottom line.
What about you, Techvibes readers? Would you use this service if it became available in Canada? Why or why not? Let us know by leaving a comment.
