According to a new report from IHS Screen Digest, streamed videos will overtake physical discs for the first time ever, in 2012.
In the U.S., consumers will stream videos 3.4 billion times, compared to watching 2.4 billion physical discs.
It is the end of an era, notes Dan Cryan of IHS: "After more than 30 years of buying and renting movies on tapes and discs, this year marks the tipping point."
"U.S. consumers now are making a historic switch to Internet-based consumption, setting the stage for a worldwide migration of consumption from physical to online. We are looking at the beginning of the end of the age of movies on physical media like DVD and Blu-ray. But the transition is likely to take time: almost nine years after the launch of the iTunes Store, CDs are still a vital part of the music business," he continues.
Last year, the "ratio was 2.6 billion views of films on disc to one billion online," notes TheDailyMail.
Concludes Cryan: "The year 2012 will be the final nail to the coffin on the old idea that consumers won't accept premium content distribution over the Internet.
"In fact, the growth in online consumption is part of a broader trend that has seen the total number of movies consumed from services that are traditionally considered "home entertainment" grow by 40 percent between 2007 and 2011, even as the number of movies viewed on physical formats has declined."
It is the end of an era, notes Dan Cryan of IHS: "After more than 30 years of buying and renting movies on tapes and discs, this year marks the tipping point."
"U.S. consumers now are making a historic switch to Internet-based consumption, setting the stage for a worldwide migration of consumption from physical to online. We are looking at the beginning of the end of the age of movies on physical media like DVD and Blu-ray. But the transition is likely to take time: almost nine years after the launch of the iTunes Store, CDs are still a vital part of the music business," he continues.
Last year, the "ratio was 2.6 billion views of films on disc to one billion online," notes TheDailyMail.
Concludes Cryan: "The year 2012 will be the final nail to the coffin on the old idea that consumers won't accept premium content distribution over the Internet.
"In fact, the growth in online consumption is part of a broader trend that has seen the total number of movies consumed from services that are traditionally considered "home entertainment" grow by 40 percent between 2007 and 2011, even as the number of movies viewed on physical formats has declined."
