Rich Fiscus
31 Aug 2010 12:23
US video rental giant Blockbuster just announced the Onkyo BD-SP808 Blu-ray player, set to ship to retailers in September, features a client for their online video service, Blockbuster On Demand.
Blockbuster On Demand is already supported on a handful of players from Phillips, Samsung & Toshiba, as well as a range of other devices including TiVo DVRs and the Archos 605 portable media player. There is also a client for Windows.
Unlike the Netflix Watch Instantly service, which offers unlimited viewing of mostly catalog titles and TV shows, Blockbuster On Demand rents and sells individual titles, including many new releases.
Blockbuster is favored with support from movie studios in the form of earlier access to new releases because this is sees as a tool to keep Netflix and Redbox from dominating the home video landscape. But Blockbuster's failure to compete with either company has led them to bankruptcy.
Blockbuster's plans for success in the on demand rental space may also be in trouble if rumors about Apple expanding their iTunes rental operation are true.
Their online offering has neither the brand name recognition of Netflix nor the base of TV-connected clients. From game consoles to Blu-ray players to HDTVs themselves, Netflix clients are everywhere.
Not to mention this year's introduction of iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch clients. An Android app is also coming at some point in the future.
The widespread availability of the client, especially connected to TVs, has become arguably the biggest driver of recent growth for Netflix.
Blockbuster's client install base is significantly smaller and they have a bigger hurdle to overcome in convincing consumers they should use Blockbuster On Demand.
While every Netflix customer already has the Watch Instantly service available for no extra charge, even trying out Blockbuster's service will cost you. Even though it's not a lot of money, this likely this translates to a smaller percentage of potential customers trying it out.
There's also competition from cable and satellite providers' VOD offerings. Not only do they feature a similar selection to Blockbuster On Demand, they are also a more familiar technology to most of their subscribers.
Blockbuster needs to improve both their brick and mortar and online businesses. Slowly rolling out kiosks and slowly getting clients connected to TVs seems like a failing strategy. Especially when the key point of differentiation for both operations appears to be trading on the somewhat tarnished Blockbuster name.
But the lack of clients may be the least of their problems online. If they managed to make online VOD (not bundled with another service) even half as successful as Netflix, they would be the first to do so.
To be sure, they're taking small steps. But to where?