You can now stream Transformers: Dark Of The Moon directly from Paramount Pictures, in what the company is calling “an experiment.” Can this attempt to cut out the middle-men and sell to consumers directly possibly work?
Hollywood and the Internet
Hollywood hasn’t taken particularly well to the Internet, blaming its (supposed) woes on piracy beyond all reason. But the MPAA aside, the studios are slowly realizing that the Internet and the range of options it gives to consumers aren’t going to just disappear. In other words, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Movies are now available to watch via a whole host of services and websites. Amazon and Apple offer the chance to buy or rent digital copies, while Netflix and Hulu offer always-available streams of older titles. Even the likes of Facebook and YouTube are now offering movies.
The problem for the major Hollywood studios is there is always a middle-man. If they can be taken out of the equation then this Internet malarkey may not be so bad after all.
Transformers Direct Stream
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
is now available to stream online, with Paramount charging $3.99 for the SD version, $4.99 for the HD version. Once you’ve paid your dues you have 48 hours to watch the film as many times as you want to. The site will be live until the end of February.
Amy Powell, exec VP-interactive marketing and film production at Paramount, said:
“We’re testing the waters and interested to see consumer feedback. It’s just a little toe-dip to move in the direction we believe will be one of the future distribution means for content. Paramount wants to offer as many choices as possible when it comes to consumers enjoying its content.”
Both Paramount and Warner Bros. have already experimented with offering movies through Facebook, but this is the next step up the ladder. If the studios can set up transactions directly with consumers then they’re more likely to embrace the Internet as a legitimate means of content delivery. Because they’ll gain from it monetarily.
Conclusions
My ultimate conclusion has to be to advise you not to take this route and stream Transformers: Dark Of The Moon from Paramount. Not out of loyalty to the third-parties Paramount is circumventing, but purely because it’s a terrible movie. If the content on offer was better then why not.
[Via AdAge]
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