Viewers continue to rely on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs to watch movies more than all other digital-video options combined, according to new research from the NPD Group.
The research reveals that over the first three months of the year, 77 percent of consumers watched a movie on DVD or Blu-ray. That figure is unchanged from 2010, the research group said.
Consumers who viewed movies from physical discs reported watching an average of four hours per week, which is also unchanged from the previous year. By comparison, 68 percent watched a movie on a TV or cable network channel, 49 percent at a theater and 21 percent used paid VOD through their TVs.
According to data from NPD's "Entertainment Trends in America" report, when asked about their recent spending on home video, consumers reported that 78 percent of their home video budgets went to the purchase and rental of DVD and Blu-rays, including online and in-store retail purchases and rentals, while 15 percent was spent on video subscription services like Netflix that offer a mix of physical and streaming rentals. Digital video downloads, paid streaming, paid transactional VOD and pay-per-view services comprised the remaining 8 percent. Overall per-capita spending on home video fell by 2 percent.