Consumers have a number of options when it comes to viewing movies at home. Two of the very most popular are leasing movies at the local video store and leasing movies via an online service. A friendly survey was recently conducted on a home electronics/entertainment site the movie viewing habits of readers. The results sharp to some of the misconceptions that survive about online rental of Dvds by consumers that haven’t yet tried the service.
Participants in the survey were asked a number 123movies of questions, including how often they watch movies at home, whether they rent movies online, and if not, why. Nearly 28% of those replying indicated that they rent movies online. Of the remainder, the most frequently specified reason for not using an online movie rental service was concern which centered around the perception that online movie rental would be more expensive than the local video store. When looking at a couple of scenarios it becomes evident which method tends to be more affordable.
For those who indicated that they watch only one to 3 movies per month the savings from leasing online are small. Leasing 2 movies per month at the local video store would average around $7. 40 whereas leasing from Netflix for example, if they chose the plan that has a limit of 2 movies per month, would run $5. 99. After getting a video at the local store the user would have overnight or perhaps 7 days to go back the movie but an online rental allows them to keep the movie for an unlimited period of time.
For those individuals who responded that they view 1-3 movies each week, the savings would be more significant. For instance, leasing 8 movies per month would run around $29. fifty-five at the local store and just $14. 99 online if they chose the “2 out at a time” plan or $17. 99 for the “3 out at a time” plan. As viewing increases so does the possibilities of experiencing greater savings.
For those who responded that they view 4 movies each week (averaged out to 16 per month) the average cost at the local store would be $59. 2008 while online rental would be $23. 99 allowing the user “4 out at a time”. Leasing via a service like Netflix generally does not limit how many movies a person views but instead, how many movies they can have out at any given time. Therefore leases are more or less unlimited with many of the plans.
The second usually specified reason for not utilizing online movie rental services was that the individual hired movies on the spur of the moment and did not plan ahead. Certainly leasing movies online and receiving them through the mail would not allow anyone to decide at 6: 00 p. michael. that they want to see the Queen and receive it in order to be viewing the movie by 8: 00 p. michael. However, the delay for receiving movies selected through the mail is only 1 business day which will seem sufficient more often than not.
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 via a buffering service that is available nowadays for some movies. The service should be quicker than most download services as buffering allows viewing of the movie as it is streamed rather than waiting until download is complete. Although a full changeover from the current mail delivery system to a download type of service will take 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.