Movie Rental Kiosks Reign Supreme

All it took was the third quarter of 2010 for there to be more rentals coming from kiosks like Redbox than retail DVD stores like Blockbuster. In fact 31% of the U.S. market share according to NPD is coming from Kiosks which are catching up to DVD by mail services like Netflix.

This is because people want the newest releases and they want them quickly without delay, the 28 delay that is now imposed on Redbox and Netflix may give Blockbuster a temporary edge as it is able to deliver the newest DVD offerings a month before other services but even this edge isn't keeping customers with the traditional movie rental model.

Even Blockbuster is now installing DVD rental kiosks across the country and will gradually start closing stores that can't keep bringing in profits. Rental Kiosks however only fill the "new release niche" and they simply cannot stock a wide range of movies. This is where Internet streaming will continue to become more common and in demand over the near future as movies 1+ years old start to become more available online and you won't be able to get them from kiosks.

So the Kiosk business will only help fuel the online streaming business as an alternative perhaps since even Movie Channels on cable simply can't show the tens of thousands of movies from across the world and possibly give people the selection or movies they are looking for. Netflix ironically is starting to forcibly put its online streaming service front and center by recently preventing customers from adding DVD's to their rental queue from online streaming devices. This means no longer can you add a DVD to your rental queue from a Roku box, iPod, iPad, Android or other device capable of streaming movies. It is kind of ironic because the PC can stream movies too so they mine as well let mobile devices act like a web browser and add movies to their queue.

All you have to do is read about Internet media streaming devices such as Roku Review to know that Internet media is becoming more common and will eventually be mainstream in about 3-5 years it would seem.

Still, Internet streaming is still a few years behind the mainstream as new media content is not readily accessible and the licensing costs of content are very high. Kiosks which rent movies for $1 per rental are a deal for people who only watch one or two movies per month as they are much cheaper than an online DVD subscription and usually let people see the latest movies they want.

What are your thoughts on Kiosk DVD rentals or Internet movie streaming, which access do you prefer to watch the Movies you want to see?