Fresh on the heels of the streaming media company’s $40 million Plex today announces its expansion into a new business: a movie rental storefront. The addition, which will initially be offered to US customers, will give the streamer another way to generate revenue beyond subscription products and ad-supported streaming — a differentiation that will prove critical as the ad market continues to unpredictable.
At launch, the marketplace will offer movies from top studios including WB, Paramount, MGM, Lionsgate and A24, meaning Plex users will be able to rent titles such as ‘Barbie,’ ‘Wonka,’ ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning,” “The Color Purple,” “Expend4bles,” “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” “Mean Girls” and more .
Image Credits: Plex
Plex says there will be just over 1,000 titles available to rent, but that number will grow over time. Titles will also cycle in and out of windows, so the number of rentals will also fluctuate over time.
The company had teased plans for a TV and movie rental marketplace for years, but it never got off the ground as other priorities took over. Originally planned for shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic, things changed as Plex, like many other companies, saw an influx of streaming customers that changed its focus. Other technical concerns also slowed things down at times.
However, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, Plex confirmed that a rental marketplace is nearing launch. But as it turns out, the showcase will only feature movies for now — not TV shows. It also won’t offer movies for purchase alongside rentals because Plex user surveys found that rentals were more in demand.
Image Credits: Plex
“We’re looking at the market use case because that creates some extra wrinkles — now you have to keep that locker for people long-term, and it really makes sense [for us]?” explained Plex CEO Keith Valory. He noted that the lack of TV show rentals also stemmed from user surveys, which found that most people still turned to streaming services to watch TV, but would be more interested in renting movies.
Once users start a rental, they will have 48 hours to finish viewing it, just like in other markets. The movie will also appear in the “Continue Watching” section on the Plex home screen if you don’t finish watching on your first go. The company plans to add more studio partners to its movie rental store over time, he says.
While there are already plenty of other places where consumers can rent movies today, Plex believes its recommendation capabilities will differentiate its business. Today, Plex customers use its software to organize their home media, stream live channels, watch ad-supported TV and movies, and discover new shows on their services or through their friends’ viewing habits via newer social networking functions. (The latter landed Plex in hot water recently as customers discovered they had shared content viewing they would prefer to remain silent. (Plex says it adjusted this sharing feature to make it more obvious to users that they were opting in.)
That wealth of user data could help Plex drive more users to movie rentals, the company says. For example, if you saw that your friend had just watched a new movie that you had on your watch list, you might be inspired to rent it and watch it too.
Image Credits: Plex
“I think we’re way ahead of the market from a technology standpoint in terms of our personalization and recommendations,” says Valory. “And we use a little bit of machine learning and other heuristics to do that. I think one of the advantages we have in building the recommendation engine is that it’s across content,” he adds.
Of course, Plex also has to deal with being a studio partner when, in fact, its software solution is used to store people’s home media collections — including movies ripped from DVDs in years past. However, the company stresses that there is no problem because it is working with its studio partners to provide protection and watermarking capabilities to end illegal use and protect their copyrights should anything be compromised.
The new movie marketplace will launch across all platforms, Plex notes, including its apps on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV/Google TV, Roku, smart TVs (LG, Hisense, Samsung, Sony, VIZIO), game consoles and Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.
