Movie Buffs Still Prefer DVDs, Blu-rays to Streaming Video, NPD Group Says

You can't argue with the convenience of streaming video, provided you're rocking a fast enough Internet connection to watch your favorite movies without annoying hiccups and sudden drops in picture quality. As it turns out, consumers are also finding all those video rental kiosks convenient, and combined with brick-and-mortar store rentals, DVDs and Blu-ray rentals are still the media of choice for watching full-length feature films, according to data by The NPD Group.

The NPD Group found that kiosks, brick-and-mortar stores, and movies by mail via Netflix accounted for 62 percent of movie rental orders during the first half of 2012. By comparison, digital movie rentals accounted for the other 38 percent. These include subscription streaming (think Netflix and Hulu), pay TV VOD, and Internet VOD.

Redbox Kiosk

Interestingly enough, movie rentals as a whole dropped 10 percent compared to last year. Disc rentals in particular saw a decline in activity, dropping 17 percent year-over-year, while digital movie rentals increased by 5 percent.

As for physical media, kiosks are the venue of choice for movie watchers. Kiosks like Redbox grew 5 percent since last year and accounted for 45 percent of all DVD and Blu-ray movie rentals in the first half of 2012.