US Movie Rental Reviews: DVD and BD are still with us Temporarily

Previously, we've discussed about how long it would last before DVD and even BD disc disappear in our movie/video viewing experiences. As more and more US consumers adopt subscription streaming supported by Netflix or other services, the fact is that the majority feature-length movies are still rented on physical discs-DVD/BD or others.

As in streaming movie fields, Netflix actually surged past Apple in 2011 to be the largest US online movie service, but which still did change DVD and BD discs’ leading place in movie rental domain, when Netflix tried to separate its physical DVD rental from online services.

According to the leading market research company, The NPD Group, people are renting fewer movies as in the transition period of shifting from physical DVD/BD disc to streaming movies.

From the data of NDP’s report, we can see that DVDs and Blu-ray discs from Kiosks, brick-and-mortar retailers and Netflix Movies by mail reached 62% of the movie rental orders for the first half year of 2012. The rest amount of 32% was shared by subscription streaming, pay TV VOD, and Internet VOD. But the overlook picture of the movie rental is: figure of physical discs has declined by 17% while digital streaming movies increased by 5% during the past few years as a whole market trend.

Comments from expert (Russ Crupnick, senior vice president, industry analysis for The NPD Group.): “The movie-rental market is clearly undergoing a sea change, as consumers become better equipped to access on-demand and streamed movies and are more comfortable with available delivery options,” Crupnick said. “Even so renting physical discs from now-ubiquitous kiosks in grocery stores and other venues have taken the lead as the most popular movie-rental method in the U.S.” 

So we can tell, to some extent, physical discs of DVD and BD would be with us for the next few years probably. But as the analysts showed us, DVD and BD are losing their priority gradually. No matter what formats or ways that would be, good news is that it’s becoming more and more convenient. As users, just enjoy your movies. DVD collectors or BD lovers, what do you say?