How Online DVD Rentals Have Changed the Movie Industry

Online DVD rental services have radically reshaped the movie industry. For the consumer the changes are obvious and generally pretty favorable. You can rent movies cheaply, you can keep them as long as you want and you can get virtually anything. For the movie industry, the outlook is a little different. In some ways this is good, and in some ways it is to their detriment.

The biggest downside for the movie business is that cheap convenient DVD rentals always tends to encourage people to stay home and watch movies. This is a compounded by the increase in television quality and the use of good sound. A lot of people have picture and audio quality at their homes that rivals what they would be able to experience in a movie theatre, and that making staying home an attractive option when the alternative is expensive movie tickets, crying children, and sticky floors.

The movie industry has reacted to this by becoming more reliant on event movies to get people to the theatres. Movies where you will want to see them in their opening week and where you will still get an experience that you cannot really duplicate at home.

One result of this is the recent surge in 3D movies. The technology does not yet exist to duplicate the 3D experience with our home theatres, so if you want to get the full effect you are obliged to actually go to the movies. When you combine this with the extra fees that are usually associated with 3D tickets, it is easy to see why the movie theatres are pushing the new technology so hard.

The increased presence of online DVD rentals has caused the movie industry to focus more and more on these blockbuster movies, relying on them for immediate profit to bolster their earning while smaller movies take a more leisurely road to profitability.

The good side of renting DVDs online, from the perspective of the movie companies, is that it extends the profitable lifespan of movies. Normally, a movie is released to DVD, then gets a features laden special edition DVD, sells to essentially everyone it is going to, and is then relegated to the sales sections at supermarkets.

With a service like Netflix or Lovefilm, though, old movies can find new life. Because these services have both recommendation systems and individual rentals are essentially free, people end up requesting movies that they would have just ignored. In order to meet that demand, the online rental companies have to buy more copies, allowing the movie companies to make more profit.

This also means that people will be more likely to purchase their own copies of DVDs, presenting more income, and that they maybe interested in cheaper, straight to DVD sequels. All of which is good news for smaller movies that would have once struggled to find an audience. What this mostly means is that the movie industry is going to have to continue to adapt to the new marketplace. For the consumer, this is only going to make renting online better and better as the industry adapts to take full advantage.

Tracey Roper is a freelance writer and webmaster based in the UK. Visit her sites to find out more about DVD duplication and CD packaging

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