NPD: Consumers Still Prefer DVDs to VOD, Downloads

PORT WASHINGTON: A report from The NPD Group says that 88 percent of consumer spending on home entertainment goes towards DVD and Blu-ray sales and rentals, with just 3 percent going towards digital downloads and online streaming.

The data was released as part of NPD’s most recent update to its Entertainment Trends In America consumer tracking study. It found that an average of $25 is spent per month on all types of home video purchases and rentals. Of that spend, 63 percent was on DVD purchases, 7 percent on Blu-ray purchases, 18 percent on DVD/Blu-ray rentals, 9 percent on VOD and 3 percent on digital downloads and online streaming. 

NPD notes that while spending on digital options remains small, it is picking up steam; 9 percent of consumers with home Internet connections reported watching movies streamed online in the past three months, versus just 5 percent last year; 8 percent rented a digital movie download, an increase of 4 percentage points since last year. In addition, 80 percent of digital movie downloaders also reported buying or renting a DVD, which compares to only 50 percent for the population as a whole; 25 percent claimed to buy or rent a Blu-ray disc, versus 5 percent overall. “While many in the home video industry worry that digital consumers might walk away from packaged media, that hasn’t happened yet,” said Russ Crupnick, an entertainment industry analyst for NPD. “Discs are still and by far the dominant way Americans enjoy home video, but there is an increasing appetite for digital options. The good news is that the consumers engaging with digital video today also tend to be heavy consumers of DVDs and Blu-ray Disc, but it remains to be seen just how long physical discs and digital formats can co-exist."