People aren’t buying or renting digital video

[bladerunner1]

Researchers at The Institute For The Study Of No Duh—a.k.a. marketing research firm GfK—have revealed that a majority of people have never rented or purchased a digital copy of a TV episode or film. (Fun fact: you can perform a similar, if more informal, study, by turning your head to the left and right and asking the people near you whether they’ve ever rented a show online.) The study shows that only 46 percent of consumers have worked up the nerve to step into the digital locker room, with most sticking to their DVDs, or forgoing ownership entirely and sticking to streaming.

Even for those willing to make the plunge, their digital collections are far smaller than the old towers of DVDs. (And offer way fewer opportunities to judge someone for having, say, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo on display.) Peak collection size for DVDs was listed at 87 discs—and 74 for VHS—while the average digital collection rests at 23 items. In fact, companies can’t even give the stuff away; of the 37 percent of respondents who said they’d purchased hard copies of films that came with online versions, two-thirds said they’d never bothered to activate them.

It’s not like a “digital library” is an inherently bonkers idea; Steam serves exactly that purpose in the field of gaming, while Kindles and Nooks worldwide are packed with electronic versions of books. And that’s skipping over the fact that digital music is now basically the default, with CDs and vinyl existing as collectors items for dedicated fans. But it seems like there’s something about video that makes people leery to invest in non-physical versions of their favorite movies and shows. (That “something,” presumably, being at least partially Netflix—the study notes that 78 percent of consumers who’ve never bought or rented a digital video have streamed content instead.)

In the interest of adding to the conversation, your humble Newswire writer just cracked open his own “digital locker” to see what was lurking inside, only to find a bunch of digital moths, an episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that he downloaded for free, and the Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries that Netflix never seems inclined to stream, even though it totally wraps the Farscape story up in a really satisfying way. So hey, maybe that’s the solution: Dial back streaming availability so hard that people will be forced to pay for the things they want to watch, instead of using a service that’s cheaper, more accessible, and offers a far wider variety of content to watch. That’ll go over well, we bet.

Source:
http://www.avclub.com/article/today-...-digita-241571

[applemac]

Yup.
I only have digital that came with discs, and maybe a few ive gotten on sale dirt cheap.

No way in hell ill pay full price for a digital rental/copy.

[jmerr]

Yes, I purchase digital movies if they are cheap, if it is something I really like, I will always buy the physical with UV. TV seasons on the other hand, I do buy digital just for convenience of keeping track what episodes I have already watched.

[Clark Kent]

People of a certain age are never going to buy into purchasing digital video content in large numbers. We've grown up with discs and seen the benefits of physical media.

Hollywood expects Millennials and younger generations to be far easier converts to digital purchases going forward.

[Jumpman]

I have no issue with purchasing digitally for the simple fact that I don't see purchasing digitally as ownership, which I'm completely fine with.

I was a tad surprised by these numbers but it sort of makes sense when you add in what Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon offer when you look at their prices.

[RBBrittain]

The EST business is still in its infancy; it has to contend with both the greater certainty of disc purchases and the convenience of subscription streaming. IMO, UV & DMA need to either merge or, more likely, sign more dual providers (Vudu since 2014, now Verizon's FiOS, and I expect Comcast's Xfinity On Demand soon) to sell people on owning movies in the cloud, especially if UV & DMA can assure people their licenses really ARE permanent (there's too many caveats out there now, especially on UV).

[Blu-Benny]

personally, I don't feel like I own something unless I can hold it in my hand.

[alchav21]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

personally, I don't feel like I own something unless I can hold it in my hand.

Just like anything, things run their course. When you bought a VHS Tape you could hold it, but did you really want to keep it. The same thing will happen to DVD's, Blu-rays, and UHD. Time and Technology moves on, you have to keep up or you will be left way behind. Digital Video is The Future, if you can't see this you are living in the Past!

[Evil]

I've been switching more and more of my purchases to digital especially over the past six months. I'm out of space for physical discs, there are too many DVD only releases available in HD digitally, and sale prices on digital often beat the sales prices I was paying for physical. So, digital is winning me over even though I'm still wary of the longevity of the services.

Honestly, my collections are so big now that it isn't realistic that I'll re-watch much of the stuff I've already seen once. There's too much new stuff coming out constantly. So, I figure that if a watch a digital movie once and it goes poof in a few years time, it still would have been worth it (especially if I saved a few bucks on the initial purchase).

[jmerr]

I pick up used dvd really cheap and then convert them using the disc to digital and upgrade HD when possible. With ten or more it is half off. It is usually much cheaper then purchasing the digital movie directly.

[BGGIII]

Originally Posted by alchav21

Just like anything, things run their course. When you bought a VHS Tape you could hold it, but did you really want to keep it. The same thing will happen to DVD's, Blu-rays, and UHD. Time and Technology moves on, you have to keep up or you will be left way behind. Digital Video is The Future, if you can't see this you are living in the Past!

I concur, sir!

[Blu-Benny]

I'm curious......I have 2 main TV's in my house....one in the living room and one in the basement where my HT is.

what are people using to play digital movies in different parts of the house??

[BGGIII]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I'm curious......I have 2 main TV's in my house....one in the living room and one in the basement where my HT is.

what are people using to play digital movies in different parts of the house??

I use a roku 3 for one of my tv's and a roku 4 on another.

[Blu-Benny]

I guess I'm just old school......and I'm only 33.

I feel the same way about books and video games though too. my wife has a kindle and loves it. she's tried to get me to buy one more than a couple of times.

I tell her the same thing....I like holding something in my hand and being able turn the pages while I'm reading.

[BGGIII]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I guess I'm just old school......and I'm only 33.

I feel the same way about books and video games though too. my wife has a kindle and loves it. she's tried to get me to buy one more than a couple of times.

I tell her the same thing....I like holding something in my hand and being able turn the pages while I'm reading.

You can hold the kindle in your hands and turn the pages by swiping with your finger. It really comes down to whatever you like best.

[socal9]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I guess I'm just old school......and I'm only 33.

I feel the same way about books and video games though too. my wife has a kindle and loves it. she's tried to get me to buy one more than a couple of times.

I tell her the same thing....I like holding something in my hand and being able turn the pages while I'm reading.

I hear what you're saying. I used to be a physical media guy myself (starting with LPs, books, and then CDs). When digital music came along, I abhorred the idea of DRM. Then services started offering high bit rate MP3s (no DRM) and I began to go that route. (Please don't get started with the old, "MP3s sound like crap compared to CDs argument". Head over to the hydrogenaudio forums to read about listening tests first and ABX testing). Digital audio saved me tons of physical space for my ever expanding music collection.

I then started purchasing ebooks through Amazon. To have my notes automatically saved and easy to reference was fantastic and once again the physical space savings was great. Also, for me personally, the Kindle reading experience was actually better than a physical book (not counting text books but I really don't do those anymore).

Now on to movies. I was a die hard physical copy guy too but then I tried digital downloads and once I learned that I could download/backup my iTunes movies, I was off and running. I'll be the first to agree that the quality of digital downloads may not be the equal to physical discs, but for my humble setup its more than good enough. And once again, the physical space savings are great.

UV is a whole other story. Download/backing up of movies is not really feasible. Way too tied down in my opinion and I would never pay much for a code or movie from them.

Oh, and one last edit: I guess I'm a pretty lazy guy because having things digitally at your fingertips is soooo nice!

[hokies5007]

Originally Posted by socal9

I hear what you're saying. I used to be a physical media guy myself (starting with LPs, books, and then CDs). When digital music came along, I abhorred the idea of DRM. Then services started offering high bit rate MP3s (no DRM) and I began to go that route. (Please don't get started with the old, "MP3s sound like crap compared to CDs argument". Head over to the hydrogenaudio forums to read about listening tests first and ABX testing). Digital audio saved me tons of physical space for my ever expanding music collection.

I then started purchasing ebooks through Amazon. To have my notes automatically saved and easy to reference was fantastic and once again the physical space savings was great. Also, for me personally, the Kindle reading experience was actually better than a physical book (not counting text books but I really don't do those anymore).

Now on to movies. I was a die hard physical copy guy too but then I tried digital downloads and once I learned that I could download/backup my iTunes movies, I was off and running. I'll be the first to agree that the quality of digital downloads may not be the equal to physical discs, but for my humble setup its more than good enough. And once again, the physical space savings are great.

UV is a whole other story. Download/backing up of movies is not really feasible. Way too tied down in my opinion and I would never pay much for a code or movie from them.

Oh, and one last edit: I guess I'm a pretty lazy guy because having things digitally at your fingertips is soooo nice!

I'm totally with you on your logic there. I love having access to all my movies, books, music, etc. on any device, anywhere. I also love watching a movie downstairs, stopping it, then continuing where I left off upstairs with no effort. I'm anti-clutter so digital media takes care of that as well. I prefer Vudu for my movies and love everything about them (except for the Xbox One app ). I'm hoping one day I'll be able to back up my movies to my Google Drive but I'm not holding my breath. For now, I'm just enjoying the convenience of having my digital media collection accessible everywhere I go!

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Thinking of the general buying public, not us enthusiasts I would say there are a few reasons. First, there are those with no broadband, yes they exist. Secondly, many with broadband have ISP's that have data caps, and movies are large. Or they are using mobile devices that most certainly have data caps. Third, many have Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime and aren't going to spend more money on a full priced digital download, they can wait for their favorite streaming service to get it. Lastly, when you can get DVD and even Blu-Rays pretty cheap vs very few digital sales, why buy digital?

[huskerbear]

I have redeemed the codes that came with my discs, converted everything else D2D. Purchased many codes. Today I purchase many on monthly sales, but only if it says UV. The only discs I am buying today are the 3D ones I can't purchase digitally.

[huskerbear]

Originally Posted by Blu-Benny

I'm curious......I have 2 main TV's in my house....one in the living room and one in the basement where my HT is.

what are people using to play digital movies in different parts of the house??

Roku's at every TV. Take a Roku stick when I'm traveling and always have all my movies/TV with me!