2012 Movies: Stream vs. Buy

According to a report from Bloomberg, 2012 will see more folks stream movies than actually purchase. We all knew this day was coming, but what does it actually mean for the physical disc world? I don’t think you’re going to see all hard discs cease to exist. There are plenty of developing countries that rely primarily on physical disc media. But is this the beginning of the end for disc media?

The Bloomberg reports says:

“Online movie viewing in the U.S. will exceed digital video disc and Blu-ray use for the first time this year, according to researcher IHS Screen Digest.

Legal online viewings of films will more than double to 3.4 billion this year from 1.4 billion in 2011, IHS said today in a statement. Physical viewings of DVDs and Blu-ray discs will shrink to 2.4 billion from 2.6 billion, according to the forecast.

Unlimited-streaming subscription plans, including those offered by Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN)’s Prime service, accounted for 94 percent of all paid online movie consumption in the U.S. last year, Englewood, Colorado-based IHS said. Streamed movies have been replacing video discs, much as streamed music is overtaking compact audio discs.”

John Biggs of Tech Crunch writes,

“Arguably there are still plenty of people around the world buying DVDs and CDs but Blu-Ray is ready to hit a brick wall. Why invest in HD movies in optical form when you can get the same quality in a download on your newish smart TV or with a lower-end set-top box. The developing world is definitely still mostly optical, but as broadband speeds increase that could quickly change.”

“We are looking at the beginning of the end of the age of movies on physical media like DVD and Blu-ray,” Dan Cryan, IHS senior principal analyst, said in the statement. Are we though? Blu-Ray was just hitting it’s stride as the cost of the Blu-Ray player has dropped significantly. Blu-Ray with 3D discs are now on the shelves. I agree that with Smart TV’s and streaming services becoming the de facto standard that you are seeing an increase in streaming media. It’s convenience, for one, is beyond compare. I like On Demand services, where you simply type in a title and poof, you can watch it. If I could do that for every movie or TV show that I wanted, why would I purchase a disc? Granted, you won’t get a bunch of extras with a streaming movie, you’ll get just the movie. But what about all the behind the scenes stuff, all the “extras” that come with DVDs? Is it going to be the end of physical media?

Even after iTunes launch in 2001, I still see CD’s on the shelves at Best Buy and Target. I think there’s always going to be a market for DVD’s and physical media… just maybe not the way it used to be. Ah, the good ‘ol days.

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