Late last week, Google-owned video-sharing website YouTube ventured into new territory by announcing that it would offer movie rentals direct to its millions of users.
As part of its movie-streaming initiative, YouTube teamed up with the Sundance Film Festival to allow its users to rent a choice of five independent films, priced at roughly $3.99 for a 48-hour rental.
The five movies - still available to stream up until Sunday, January 31st - were never likely to match Hollywood blockbusters in terms of rentals. However, the significant lack of public interest may put a dent in YouTube's movie-rental ambition.
Following three days of availability, YouTube's best-performing movie - The Cove - achieved just 303 rentals. Similarly, Children of Invention, Bass Ackwards, Homewrecker and One Too Many Mornings achieved just 301, 299, 279 and 241 rentals, respectively.
On average, the figures suggest a taking of around $1,135 for an independent movie on YouTube over a three-day period.
YouTube has responded to the early statistics by stating that "the vast majority of independent films created every year don't find an audience."
"Our goal with rolling out the rentals offering at Sundance was to give these filmmakers [an opportunity] to find that audience, regardless of size," said the company in a statement.
Analysts had previously predicted that major Hollywood studios would take part in YouTube's rental initiative, but with an audience traditionally accustomed to free content, YouTube it seems may struggle to compete against established services such as Netflix, Apple's iTunes store and Microsoft's Xbox Live.
