Physical still rules in movie rentals

COMPARE & CONTRAST: Shiny round things may be on the way out when it comes to recorded music, but they still dominate the movie rental business, according to the latest stats from the NPD Group. DVDs and Blu-Ray discs accounted for 62% of rental transactions at brick-and-mortar stores and Netflix’s mail service during the first half of 2012. That’s significantly more than the 38% tallied by the combination of subscription streaming, pay TV VOD and Internet VOD. On the other hand, while rentals from all sources dropped by 10% from the same period in 2011, physical rentals declined by 17%, compared to a 5% increase for the digital sector. “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 NPD’s Russ Crupnick. “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.” (8/10a)