MARCH 8, 2011 • Warner Bros. will become the first major motion picture studio to directly offer its films via Facebook. Starting off with Batman: The Dark Knight, consumers can go to the studio’s official Facebook page, click a rent icon, and watch the film for 30 Facebook Credits ($3). After the credits are applied, renters will have 48 hours to watch the movie, which can be paused and resumed within that period.
Impact: The overall impact of being able to watch movies on Facebook is fairly minimal. The main issue is Facebook Credits are expected to be a huge market driver as they start to gain more acceptance. Facebook Credits will be able to be used for many different purposes and this should make them quite popular. We expect far more people to use them to build their farms in Farmville than to rent Batman on a PC. However, just the fact that you COULD do it is a compelling reason to buy credits versus having to buy credits that only work in one or a handful of applications.
