Before that, let’s check out some figures from comScore (comScore is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics.): 18.1 million American internet users viewed 37 billion movies for April, 2012, which suggests that 84.5 percent American internet users spent about 21.8 hours on online movies each person per month. Among the online streaming websites, YouTube top the list of viewers’ number.
Well, these figures is not surprising to me as I seldom purchase physical disks like DVDs or Blu-rays for movies unless for my favorite collector’s edition (e.g. E.T., Titanic, etc.). I always choose watch the latest movies online, regarding it as the most convenient one for me.
According to a new research from Mintel (Mintel Group Ltd is a privately owned, London-based market research firm.), digital download, subscription streaming and video-on-demand sales of movies will rocket tenfold from 2007 to 2017. The fact is that figures during the period of 2007 to 2012 have already quadrupled from $1.3 billion to 5.5 billion.
As physical disks such as CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays are dropping, they still remain as the major forms of movie viewing- movie rental. Steaming services like Netflix and Amazon Instant Video are gaining in popularity these days. At the same time, an increasing number of people prefer Video on Demand.
Undoubtedly, there are still large numbers of DVD lovers who cherish the nostalgic feelings, the physical belonging knot, and the background extras, as well as sharing goods with others. But in the mainstream, the general trend is leading to the leaving of traditional physical media, maybe not in 5 years, as Mintel indicated.
So, how about you? Do you watch through DVDs, Video on Demand, or streaming online? Well, personally, I’d rather a single clicking for my movie viewing online, probably YouTube, Hulu, Dailymotion, Yahoo or Vevo. Besides, I can always download them for later viewing.
