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Warner Bros is making some of its films available on Facebook, opening up a new revenue source for the Internet social network. Consumers can pay for the movies using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency so far used mainly in social games on the site, according to Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
The service will initially be available in the US, the company said.
In a note to investors, Goldman Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung said Facebook represents a long-term threat to online rental services that caught Wall Street investors by surprise.
"The wisdom of friends could be a bigger driver of movie viewership than the wisdom of crowds," said Chung.
However, Lazard Capital Markets analyst Barton Crockett said in a note to investors that online pay-per-view services have not proved as popular as subscription-based movie services.
The first movie available on the Warner Bros Entertainment page on Facebook is Batman - The Dark Knight.
Rentals cost 30 Facebook Credits, or $3, for 48 hours, and viewers can pause and restart a movie whenever they log back in.
