A number of new media services and technologies are affecting how the world consumes media in the 21st century. Along with video streaming and Internet content, online video rental (Fairy Film) is one of the biggest trends in this area. Online video rental is the phrase used to describe any service that allows people to rent video content through the Internet. A number of different formats can be rented in this fashion, including DVDs, Blu-ray discs, VCDs, computer games, and music. While not every online rental company offers all of these services, it is becoming increasingly common for large operations to offer a large selection.

In many ways, online video rental is taking over from traditional television networks, due to the low price, large range of titles, and flexibility of these services.

Online video rental operates by a fairly simple model, with customers browsing titles and selecting content through an online website. Once video content has been selected by customers, it is then mailed to the customers physical location through a courier or via the regular mail system. While these services operate in much the same way as traditional video rental stores, there are a number of advantages to using online video rental. Most of the larger Internet rental services offer a huge range of content to their customers, often including niche content and specialised media. It is very difficult for customers to access some video content through local retail stores, so this is a major advantage of using online video rental.

While large television networks have dominated the way that people consume video based media over the last half a century, the Internet is changing the nature of this relationship. Along with online content channels and online streaming services, Internet video rental is one of the driving forces behind these changes. The Internet has given people more access to a greater range of video media, which was not accessible before through either TV or retail rental stores. People have become accustomed to this flexibility and range of choice, which is simply not available through the regular TV networks. For this reason, as well as for reasons linked to price and ease of use, online video rental will continue to have an influence on our viewing habits for a long time to come.