Facebook is setting its sights on the movie rental business in a new deal with Warner Bros. that will offer movie watchers another means to catch a flick.
For 30 Facebook credits, which translates to $3 in cash, Facebook users can rent a film and watch it streamed within a Facebook fan page as many times as they want for 48 hours. By comparison, a two-night DVD rental via Redbox would cost $2.
Film watchers on Facebook will be able to partake in their daily Facebook activities such as post comments or status updates while the movie plays. This is an advantage the other services cannot offer and one that Facebook will be counting on to get their movie rental business off the ground.
Right now The Dark Knight is the only movie available to watch on Facebook. More titles will be added in the coming months as both Facebook and Warner Bros. evaluate the success of this new business model.
The big loser in this deal might be Netflix whose stock dropped over 4% on the news. Netflix has been the top choice for streaming movie rentals and continues to add access to its library via Internet connected devices, the latest being Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS portable gaming system. Facebook’s 500 million plus users offers a huge potential pool of customers that, if the Warner Bros. deal is successful and other studios come on board, could eat into Netflix’s subscription numbers.
