Redbox, kiosk rentals now outpace video stores

NPD Group says that for the first time, movie rentals from standalone kiosk have a larger market share in the United States than those from brick-and-mortar stores. "Netflix and other subscription services comprised 41 percent of video rental turns in the third quarter of 2010," NPD wrote, "followed by kiosk rentals at 31 percent, and in-store rentals at 27 percent." NPD, a research firm, said today that its study found the share of kiosk rentals grew 10 percent from the same quarter in 2009. The data only accounts for disc rentals and does not include movies streamed over the Web. The findings come four months after Blockbuster, the former No. 1 video rental outlet, filed for bankruptcy protection. The company is now pursuing its own kiosk strategy.

While kiosks are helping to fill the void left by Blockbuster and other fading, traditional movie-renting chains, Internet streaming appears to be the future of movie renting.
Netflix, which has replaced Blockbuster as the dominant movie rental company, said in October that it is providing more hours of content via the Internet than on disc.