Posts tagged Rentals
Hollywood Isn’t Ruining DVD Rentals On Its Own: Netflix is Happy to Help
Jan 31st
It’s easy to slam Hollywood for not understanding how technology works, or for putting its legacy business models ahead of user experience. Especially when big media companies do things like restrict digital access to movies and then cry about piracy.
But Hollywood isn’t always acting alone. Sometimes, the savviest Web companies around – Netflix, for instance – are playing along, with their own agendas.
The latest example: Not only must Netflix customers wait 56 days before renting Warner Bros. new release discs, but they can’t even add them to their rental queues until 28 days after they’ve been released. Sounds a little nuts, no?
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Hollywood’s goal with this wacky idea is to get you to buy those movies on DVD instead of renting them. Studios stand to make a lot more money by selling a DVD to each household instead of selling one copy to Netflix for a bunch of rentals. So now they’re in the business of messing with movie rentals using things like release delays and this new no-new-movies-in-your-queue policy.
Whether this plan sells more DVDs or not, it’s hard to escape the fact that Netflix’s user experience is suffering a bit because of it, and that seems like something Netflix should fight. But Netflix is actually on board!
Instead of telling Hollywood to get lost with silly ideas like this, Netflix is cooperating. It doesn’t have to buy DVDs directly from studios and play along with 28- or 56-day windows: Netflix can legally go out and buy DVDs anywhere – Walmart, Amazon, you name it – and rent them out as much as it wants. But it isn’t doing that. It’s playing along.
Why? A couple of reasons. To some extent, because it’s easier and more reliable for Netflix to buy discs directly from Warner Bros. instead of relying on third-party vendors. Netflix admits as much (PDF). But more importantly, because Netflix actually has the same goal that the studios do: To try to discourage you from renting DVDs.
The future of Netflix is 100% based on its ability to grow into the best streaming video entertainment service. Renting discs is very profitable for Netflix, but it’s the past. That’s why it went as far as to try separating its DVD business last year as “Qwikster,” and that’s why it’s letting studios make DVD rentals less attractive with windows and queue restrictions.
The sooner you get disgusted and cancel your DVD rental subscription, the stronger Netflix’s case to the studios becomes that they need streaming, or else.
So far, that isn’t really happening. An analysis by Tristan Louis shows that all of the top 100 movies from 2010 are available on DVD, but the vast majority aren’t available as streaming rentals. Netflix actually had the best streaming rental selection vs. iTunes, Amazon, or Vudu, according to Louis’s analysis, but it’s still only a small fraction of the top movies. Not yet good enough.
Netflix has been successful in its efforts to reduce its number of DVD subscribers, however, albeit with significant damage to its reputation.
At the end of 2011, Netflix had just 11 million DVD subscribers, down significantly from last year and well below its 22 million streaming subscribers. “We expect DVD subscribers to decline steadily every quarter forever,” Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said on the company’s Q4 earnings call last week (PDF transcript).
Assuming this trend continues, Netflix will be in a position to say to the studios: Look, the vast majority of our subscribers won’t be able to watch this movie unless you stream it. So stream it.
That might not work, anyway. There’s plenty of competition on the way for Netflix, ranging from Amazon, Apple and Google to the cable companies. And it will need to keep its edge using other techniques, too, such as obtaining exclusive and/or original programming. But this is the future Netflix is choosing, so it needs to try.
The takeaway: If you’re renting discs from Netflix now, expect more weirdness ahead.
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YouTube Adds UK Video Rentals
Oct 9th
YouTube users in the UK will now be able to rent videos directly from YouTube. The available features include classics, blockbusters, and new releases. YouTube is also adding additional Google account support and a U.S. Telemundo channel.
Detail…
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Textbook Rentals Come to the Kindle: Probably Not a Money-Saver
Jul 18th
Amazon unveiled a Kindle Textbook Rental, giving students the ability to rent instead of buy digital textbooks. Amazon says that “tens of thousands” of titles from some of the major textbook publishers – including John WIley & Sons, Wlsevier, and Taylor & Francis – will be available for this school year.
It’s not just the selection that the company is touting, of course, it’s the savings: “now students can save up to 80% off its textbook list prices by renting from the Kindle Store.” Amazon’s boasted savings for students has put the company at odds with brick-and-mortar college bookstores, and the National Association of College Stores has accused the online retailer of misleading students about the potential for savings when buying textbooks from Amazon.
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But renting textbooks has becoming a popular alternative to buying recently, with companies like Chegg offering students the ability to rent books just for the duration of a semester. Amazon’s new program is similar, but with the added bonus of being digital rather than physical, letting students read the e-books on Kindles and on Kindle apps.
Buying Used Textbooks, Still Cheaper Than Renting
The Kindle Textbook Rental program also lets students configure the length of the rental, from 30 days to 360 days. Of course, the longer you rent, the more expensive it becomes. A $100 Kindle purchase can be rented for $40 for a month, but that quickly increases the longer you keep the book – and most students will keep it for at least a semester. It’s still cheaper to buy used textbooks in most cases, and when you buy a physical book, of course, you can keep the book or sell it back as you deem fit.
To make this option more appealing, Amazon has added a new feature to the Kindle Textbook Rental program, the ability for students to keep any of the notes they make in the textbooks they’ve rented. Typically, when you borrow an e-book, any marks you make in the text disappear when you return them. But Amazon says you’ll be able to keep your highlights and notes “in the Amazon Cloud,” and should you buy or rent the book again, the notes will be “just where you left them.”
College Students Lukewarm about Kindles
The Kindle itself hasn’t gained much traction among college students, and several studies have found that students say that they don’t find e-readers to be very useful for their note-taking and studying needs. It’s worth noting that on Amazon’s page announcing the new program that an actual Kindle isn’t depicted. Instead, there’s an e-book on a laptop and displayed on a large monitor. You needn’t use a Kindle, the message seems to suggest, just a Kindle app.
Textbooks are big business, and college students spend billions of dollars a year on them. With new and used titles for sale in print, Amazon has already wooed a number of students to buy from it, rather than from their local college bookstores. But it remains to be seen if the price – and of course the availability – of digital textbook rentals are something students are interested in. For the time being, it seems, used textbooks still look like the better deal, despite all the arguments that digital books are easier to carry around campus.
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New Android Market Better, Offers Movie Rentals
Jul 13th
Perhaps the best thing about the new and improved Android market is movie rentals. For others it may be books and still others may like the easier app discovery. For me it’s movies. The online Android market has had movie rentals but they haven’t been available directly on the phone…
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Warner Bros Adds 5 More Movie Titles to Facebook Rentals, But Is It a Threat to Netflix?
Mar 29th
Earlier this month, Warner Bros announced that it would become the first Hollywood studio to make its movies available for sale or rental via Facebook. Its first offering: The Dark Knight. Now Warner Bros has added five more blockbuster titles to its Facebook rental catalog: Inception, Life as We Know It, Yogi Bear, and the first two Harry Potter movies.
The new films will cost between 30 and 40 Facebook credits (between $3 and $4) for a 48-hour rental period. During that time period, you’ll have unlimited streaming access to the movie, meaning you can pause, rewind, watch on different computers, and watch numerous times. The movies are purchased and streamed within the Facebook page, meaning you won’t have to leave the site in order to watch. You’ll still be able to update your status and chat with friends. However, as the video player is Flash, you won’t be able to watch your Facebook movies on your Apple devices.
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The move by Warner Bros to make its films available to stream via Facebook is an effort to expand the company’s digital distribution efforts. The titles released today include a number of very recent movies. Yogi Bear was just released on DVD last week, and Life As We Know It came to DVD in early February.
But the real competition here might not be the DVD rental business: it’s likely Netflix and its video streaming service. Certainly renting a movie for $3 to $4 a pop isn’t as good a deal as Netflix’s $8-per-month streaming subscription. Netflix has more titles, and that $8 gets you unlimited access to them.
However, none of the six titles that Warner Bros has released via Facebook are available to stream on Netflix. (You can get the DVDs in the mail, of course, with the exception of Yogi Bear. New titles have a 28-day waiting period before coming to the movie rental site).
Recent statistics point to Netflix as controlling a major share of the video streaming market – 61%. But despite its success with customers, the movie rental company has frequently butted heads with the movie studios.
Warner Bros has not indicated what its plans are for releasing more movies via Facebook, but it may be looking to sidestep that control that Netflix currently has over the online streaming market.
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Carrentals.co.uk Leads SEO & Social Media Marketing with 53% of Car Hire Searches – Car Rentals
Jan 20th
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Carrentals.co.uk Leads SEO & Social Media Marketing with 53% of Car Hire Searches
Car Rentals … has reported that award-winning car hire price comparator Carrentals.co.uk has taken the lead in search rankings of SEO and social media marketing for … Carrentals.co.uk Ahead of the Game in SEO and Social Media Marketing Carrentals.co.uk Tops Natural Car Hire Search Rankings with 53% in SEO … |
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VUDU Brings HD Movie Rentals to Boxee Box
Jan 19th
Boxee Box, the rather oddly-shaped device that brings Internet content to your TV, announced today that VUDU would finally be available with the latest version of the Boxee Box firmware.
VUDU and Boxee first announced their partnership last October and today that deal will bring thousands of HD movies to Boxee Box users.
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A big selling point for VUDU is not only its huge selection of HD movies, but also its same-day new releases available for $2 for two nights. Movie quality is 1080p HD at 24 frames per second and audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
The list of enhancements in today’s update is followed by a list of bug fixes nearly 60 items long, so hopefully the upgrade not only means HD movie rentals, but a smoother viewing experience. From the list, it sounds like Boxee has been running into some issues with hanging, crashing and sharing on Windows 7. The upgrade will bring VUDU to U.S. users and Netflix users should keep any eye on Boxee too – the company claims that a Netflix app is in the works and on the way soon.
What do you say, Internet TV fans? Will Boxee’s deal with VUDU sway you, or is your Netflix-loaded Roku box serving you just fine? Or maybe Amazon’s Video On Demand satiates all your needs? YouTube Leanback got your back?
Your Boxee Box firmware will upgrade automatically in the next 24 hours but, if you’re impatient like me, you can upgrade manually by going to “Settings>System>Update.”
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Report: Google’s YouTube To Offer Streaming Pay-Per-View Hollywood Rentals
Aug 30th
Google plans pay-per-view films from the Financial Times reports Google is in talks with several major Hollywood film companies to offer a pay-per-view service of their films.
Reports say that the streaming movie service from YouTube will bring these movies to online consumers at about $5 per movie. The movies would not download to [...]
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