Unless we’re talking about a classic like the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I’m really not interested in shelling out money to purchase video content. And apparently I’m not alone. The Diffusion Group reports that roughly 90% of US broadband households rent movies on a regular basis. (ZDNet picked up the stats last week.)
Among consumers who rent from a traditional store:
In my mind, those numbers mean there’s a heck of a lot of growth potential in both VOD and online video rentals. As Dave has lamented before, Web services seem far too focused on video purchases. Given the Google Video debacle, you’d think that renting flicks would be a safer business bet. (No pissed off customers when you shutter your service) I certainly prefer it.