Consumers have a number of options as it pertains to viewing movies at home. Two of typically the most popular are renting movies at the local video store and renting movies via an on the web service. An informal survey was recently conducted on a house electronics/entertainment site concerning the movie viewing habits of website visitors. The outcome pointed to a number of the misconceptions that still exist about online rental of DVDs by consumers that have not yet tried the service.
Participants in the survey were asked a number of questions, including how often they watch movies in the home, whether or not they rent movies online, and or even, why. Nearly 28% of the responding indicated that they rent movies online. Of the remaining, probably the most frequently cited reason for not utilizing an online movie rental service was concern which centered round the perception that online movie rental could be higher priced than the local video store. When taking a look at a couple of scenarios it becomes evident which method tends to be more affordable.
For individuals who indicated that they watch only 1 to 3 movies per month the savings from renting online are small. Renting 2 movies per month at the local the khatrimaza video store would average around $7.40 whereas renting from Netflix for instance, if they chose the master plan that’s a control of 2 movies per month, would run $5.99. After getting a video at the local store the consumer could have overnight or perhaps seven days to return the movie but an on the web rental would allow them to keep the movie for an unlimited period of time.
For anyone individuals who responded that they view 1-3 movies weekly, the savings could be more significant. As an example, renting 8 movies per month would run around $29.55 at the local store and as little as $14.99 online if they find the “2 out at a time” plan or $17.99 for the “3 out at a time” plan. As viewing increases so does the likelihood of experiencing greater savings.
For those who responded that they view 4 movies weekly (averaged out to 16 per month) the common cost at the local store could be $59.04 while online rental could be $23.99 allowing the consumer “4 out at a time” ;.Renting by way of a service like Netflix generally doesn’t limit just how many movies a person views but alternatively, just how many movies they could have out at any given time. Therefore rentals are pretty much unlimited with many of the plans.
The 2nd most often cited reason for not utilizing online movie rental services was that the person rented movies on the spur of the moment and didn’t plan ahead. Certainly renting movies online and receiving them through the mail would not allow someone to decide at 6:00 p.m. that they wish to see The Queen and receive it so that they can be viewing the movie by 8:00 p.m. However, the delay for receiving movies selected through the mail is just 1 business day which may seem sufficient in most instances.
The future of DVD rental may be changing however as Netflix announced in early 2007 that customers would now have the option of watching movies instantly with a streaming service that’s available these days for a few movies. The service ought to be quicker than most download services as streaming allows viewing of the movie as it is streamed as opposed to waiting until download is complete. Although the full transition from the existing mail delivery system to a download form of service will require time, it is clear that immediacy will only continue to improve. It would seem that other online movie rental services would follow suit in coming years in order to compete.
