NPD: Rental Discs Still Preferred Over Digital

[towergrove]

Rentals of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs from kiosks, brick-and-mortar retailers, and Netflix accounted for 62% of movie rental orders during the first half of this year, compared to 38% for digital movie rentals such subscription video-on-demand streaming and transactional VOD on premium TV channels and the Internet, according to new data from The NPD Group.

Within the physical market, kiosks continued to extend their lead, with rentals growing 5% over last year. Kiosks accounted for 45% of the physical market, as rentals from brick-and-mortar stores continued to fade. DVD and BD by-mail subscriptions also declined as Netflix’s continues focus on streaming instead of discs.

Digital rentals increased 5% in the first half of the year due largely to Netflix. Although the majority (80%) of Netflix rentals are for TV shows, while movies account for 66% of digital rentals. Transactional VOD on cable, satellite TV and telecommunications operators accounted for 28% of digital orders, while transactional VOD on the Internet (iVOD) accounted for 6%.

“Kiosk and subscription Internet streaming are generating strong user satisfaction ratings, including future rental intent, price, and value, which is reflected in market-share gains,” said Russ Crupnick, SVP of industry analysis for The NPD Group. “Netflx is frequently the most popular video application on connected devices, so an increase in households with Web-connected Blu-ray Disc players, tablets, and smart TVs will lead to still more video streaming activity.”

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/ind...-digital-28013

[h0mi]

“Kiosk and subscription Internet streaming are generating strong user satisfaction ratings,

Doesn't this (the subscription internet streaming part) conflict with the other articles from Consumer Reports indicating that consumers were having less satisfaction with Netflix?

[towergrove]

Doesn't this (the subscription internet streaming part) conflict with the other articles from Consumer Reports indicating that consumers were having less satisfaction with Netflix?

Yes it does.

[TripleHBK]

Doesn't this (the subscription internet streaming part) conflict with the other articles from Consumer Reports indicating that consumers were having less satisfaction with Netflix?

Not necessarily... It depends on how the data was compared and reviewed. In general, I'm sure Netflix gets above average ratings overall on it's service, however when asked specifically about selection, that's when the ratings take a dive. Netflix cannot compete with physical media in that aspect as the current limit on how soon a movie can make it to the service strongly impacts opinion in that regard. However in general, users are happy with the Netflix program, citing the ease of access, low fee, and large (though still limited) catalog.