Facebook has teamed up with Warner Bros. and the two plan to take on the digital film distribution giant, Netflix. The announcement of five new films coming to Facebook’s stream-for-hire service has stirred up competition.With Blockbuster going bankrupt, a new battle has begun.
“The Dark Knight” was made available on March 7th for only $3 per rental. Facebook users can now watch all of the following without leaving the site: “Inception,” “Life as We Know It,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Yogi Bear,” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.” Each will be offered for $3 – $4.
Each new movie is available on each of the films official Facebook Home Page. Social media users just click on the “Watch Now” link and pay with their Facebook Credits. Each purchase provides a 48-hour viewing window to watch the movie on the account by which the purchase was made.
Although no figures have been disclosed on the movies performance, “The Dark Knight’s” “Likes” has surpassed 6.1 million and Facebook’s Harry Potter Movie page over 19 million.
Facebook‘s small entry immediately disrupted the market. This release caused Netflix to directly lose “4% of its share price,” according to www.guardian.co.uk. Netflix has also had to compete with Amazon Prime, another movie streaming service. Netflix’s response has been to move into exclusive content deals; a few weeks ago the company signed a deal for a 26 episode remake of “House of Cards” starring Kevin Spacey. Will this be enough for Netflix, or will Facebook and Amazon push the current leader out of business?
If Blockbuster killed local movie stores, Neflix killed Blockbuster, will Facebook be the death of Netflix? What are your thoughts?
