Google teams up with MGM to put 'West Side Story,' 'The Terminator' on YouTube
Google has teamed up with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios to offer a selection of more than 600 films from the company’s archives for rent on YouTube and Google Play.
“Today, through a new partnership with MGM, we’ve started adding more than 600 titles for rent to YouTube and Google Play users in the U.S. and Canada. MGM joins five of the six major studios and over ten independent movie studios, currently offering movies for rent on YouTube and Google Play,” said Jonathan Zepp, manager of TV/Film Content Partnerships at Google in an April 16 blog post.
The Terminator, West Side Story, Rocky, Robocop, Moonstruck, Hoosiers, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Rain Man are among the popular MGM titles that will be available in the weeks ahead.
The news comes just weeks after Google announced that it would offer close to 500 Paramount Pictures films for rent on YouTube and Google Play.
A March 22 study by Market researcher IHS forecast that American consumers would spend more money on online movies than physical videos in 2012.
“The year 2012 will be the final nail to the coffin on the old idea that consumers won’t accept premium content distribution over the Internet,” said Dan Cryan, senior principal analyst, broadband & digital media at IHS. “In fact, the growth in online consumption is part of a broader trend that has seen the total number of movies consumed from services that are traditionally considered ‘home entertainment’ grow by 40 percent between 2007 and 2011, even as the number of movies viewed on physical formats has declined.”
