Streaming Video Will Finally Surpass DVDs as Most Popular Movie Viewing Medium in 2012

Give it another couple of generations and America's young folk will think of DVDs the way the current generation thinks of VHS. DVDs are a dead format in the making, and they've already begun their march down death row. Find that hard to believe? Consider this -- according to IHS Screen Digest, in 2012 Americans will pay to consume 3.4 billion movies online, which works out to over 1 billion MORE movies than what are consumed on DVD and Blu-ray combined..

This, says IHS Screen Digest, puts "the final nail in the old idea that consumers won't accept premium content distributed online." But the question is, will content providers accept it?


Interestingly enough, DVDs are expected to generate more revenue than streaming video -- a lot more. IHS Screen Digest forecasts physical media will bring in $11.1 billion in revenue in 2012, compared to 'just' $1.7 billion in streaming revenue. That's a huge disparity, though IHS iSuppli didn't address the profit margins on both delivery methods. However, it's interesting to note that consumers currently pay an average of 51 cents per streaming movie, compared to $4.72 for DVD and Blu-ray videos.

How do you split your time between streaming movies and physical media?