Watchout Netflix and Apple, YouTube is “unofficially” in the online video rental space. With a quiet debute today, YouTube  opened YouTube.com/store, which if accessed from outside the U.S will bring you to someone’s vacant channel.

The biggest advantage Youtube will have in the rental space is its access to more independent/ non-movie content.  Sure you can rent the latest blockbuster  or even art films from Netflix but you can’t rent a semi-pro tutorial on how to use After Effects CS5.   This monetization of amateurish content is part of the evolution of online video.

It will be a while before Youtube allows for non-movie or TV show content to be sold.  It’s not hard to see its inevitability.

It would be foolish of us to not blog about one of the most effective videos we’ve ever produced. Using video to promote rental properties or real estate is a no-brainer. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a million. Imagine being able to explore a neighborhood, learn about a buildings amenities, and check out the kitchen and bath without having to leave the seat of your chair. Not only does the video give the apartment shopper a personal tour, it makes the property easier to find online (never forget, having a video increases SEO!) We have heard stories from our clients about apartments filling up and starting waiting lists as a direct result of utilizing web video. Right before our eyes the many vacancies they had before making their video turned into non-vacancies. We have seen buildings that were spending over $20 per contact (cost of running ad divided by amount of appointments) they generated from their online listings lower their cost per contact to less than $2! These results are uncanny. They had further reach and a more effective ad and as a result the phone calls started pouring in. To not have video would cost these properties tons of money!

We get new orders from the same clients every week because they all see the value in video first hand.

Having online video is an asset to filling rental apartments and selling houses/condos. As more and more property listings are moving from hard copy rental magazines to the online realm, the importance of video is only becoming greater and greater.

Here are a couple of samples. They are simple – but so very very effective.