According to information from NPD’s latest report, 41% of dollars budgeted for movies and video was spent on DVD movie purchases, 11% for purchases of TV programmes on DVD, and 29% on DVD rentals (including Netflix and other video-subscription services).

In addition, 18% is spent on movie tickets, but just 0.5% is currently spent on renting or purchasing TV shows or movies in digital format from the Web. In short, on average, US consumers spend $8 out of every $10 of their budgets buying or renting DVDs.

When asked how they watched a full-length movie in the past three months, 67% of respondents said they viewed a DVD they own themselves, while half watched on a rented DVD, and 18% opted for a video-on-demand (VOD) movie. Eight percent reported viewing movies on their portable media devices (e.g., digital music/video player or mobile phone), while 6% downloaded a movie from a free file-sharing service and watched on a computer or television. Just 2% paid for a digital video download from the Web; however, more than half (52%) reported visiting sites like YouTube, in order to watch streaming video.

“A growing number of Americans are going to YouTube and other sites for streaming video, but when it comes to paying for video content, they’re still focused on DVDs,” said Russ Crupnick, The NPD Group’s Senior Industry Analyst for entertainmentsaid. “Though the near-term talk of a digital revolution is probably overblown, as we’ve seen previously in the music industry, new content delivery sources can quickly take root among consumers. That’s why many home video companies are aggressively pursuing digital strategies, because the inflection point will come -- it’s just not coming tomorrow.

Story filed 17.09.08