Press Releases
15/11/2005
London, 15 November 2005: Video Island, Europe's leading online DVD rental service - operator of ScreenSelect.co.uk and platform provider for Tesco, easyCinema, ITV and MSN's online DVD services - today announced that it has rented a total of 10 million DVDs in the UK, a milestone endorsing both Video Island's phenomenal development and the exceptional growth of the UK's online DVD rental market. Video Island is now renting at the staggering rate of over 1 million DVDs every month across Europe.
In just twelve months, the UK online DVD rental market has grown from niche to mass market, reflected by the fact Video Island has tripled the number of rentals distributed, from three million in November 2004 to 10 million today. According to Screen Digest, Europe has almost 1m subscribers[1]. Video Island alone has nearly 200,000 active users. Continuous market growth is expected across Europe as a whole, where spending on DVD rental in Europe reached almost EUR 2.2bn in 2004[2]. This growth has come at the expense of the existing video stores, some movie channels and also new growth in the rental market. Screen Digest predicts that by 2009, at least half the UK's video rental transactions and rental spending will be online[3].
Following the acquisition in September of Brafilm, the number one online provider in both Norway and Sweden, Video Island has shipped in total over 14 million DVDs, making it the clear leader in Europe and well placed to maximise the potential of this market growth.
Video Island through its own brand ScreenSelect.co.uk offers a complete home entertainment subscription service that includes: film reviews, DVD ratings, cinema listings, ring tones and short film downloads alongside traditional DVD rental. As a result of its popularity, Hitwise places ScreenSelect.co.uk in the Top 10 visited sites for both the ‘entertainment/movies’ and ‘retail/video and games’ categories, classifying the brand in the same league as Odeon, Disney, HMV and WHSmith. ScreenSelect.co.uk has received over 9.2 million DVD ratings and customer reviews online since it launched.
Today's announcement asserts the entry of online DVD rental into the mass market, moving Video Island closer to realising its aim of revolutionising the home entertainment market across Europe. The following substantiate the claim:
Helen Davis Jayalath, Screen Digest's Senior Analyst for Video commented, “According to a new report from Screen Digest[4], online DVD rental will generate over £50m in consumer spending in the UK alone this year, more than half the total figure for Europe. Over the next few years we expect this sector to expand exponentially as more and more consumers find that the combination of convenience and choice that the online DVD rental model offers fits in with their busy lifestyles. By 2009 the online/postal system is likely to account for one third of all European DVD rentals and almost two thirds of British rental transactions.”
[1] The outlook for online DVD rental, Screen Digest, November 2005
[2] European Video Software Markets, Screen Digest, 01 July 2004
[3] The outlook for online DVD rental, Screen Digest, November 2005
[4] The outlook for online DVD rental, Screen Digest, November 2005
Video Island announces 10 Millionth rental in the UK
Online DVD rental grows from niche to mass marketLondon, 15 November 2005: Video Island, Europe's leading online DVD rental service - operator of ScreenSelect.co.uk and platform provider for Tesco, easyCinema, ITV and MSN's online DVD services - today announced that it has rented a total of 10 million DVDs in the UK, a milestone endorsing both Video Island's phenomenal development and the exceptional growth of the UK's online DVD rental market. Video Island is now renting at the staggering rate of over 1 million DVDs every month across Europe.
In just twelve months, the UK online DVD rental market has grown from niche to mass market, reflected by the fact Video Island has tripled the number of rentals distributed, from three million in November 2004 to 10 million today. According to Screen Digest, Europe has almost 1m subscribers[1]. Video Island alone has nearly 200,000 active users. Continuous market growth is expected across Europe as a whole, where spending on DVD rental in Europe reached almost EUR 2.2bn in 2004[2]. This growth has come at the expense of the existing video stores, some movie channels and also new growth in the rental market. Screen Digest predicts that by 2009, at least half the UK's video rental transactions and rental spending will be online[3].
Following the acquisition in September of Brafilm, the number one online provider in both Norway and Sweden, Video Island has shipped in total over 14 million DVDs, making it the clear leader in Europe and well placed to maximise the potential of this market growth.
Video Island through its own brand ScreenSelect.co.uk offers a complete home entertainment subscription service that includes: film reviews, DVD ratings, cinema listings, ring tones and short film downloads alongside traditional DVD rental. As a result of its popularity, Hitwise places ScreenSelect.co.uk in the Top 10 visited sites for both the ‘entertainment/movies’ and ‘retail/video and games’ categories, classifying the brand in the same league as Odeon, Disney, HMV and WHSmith. ScreenSelect.co.uk has received over 9.2 million DVD ratings and customer reviews online since it launched.
Today's announcement asserts the entry of online DVD rental into the mass market, moving Video Island closer to realising its aim of revolutionising the home entertainment market across Europe. The following substantiate the claim:
- Video Island has Europe's largest DVD library with over 44,000 unique titles
- Video Island is the clear market leader in all three of its markets - the UK, Sweden and Norway
- It provides over 1m rentals per month - equal to over 400 high street rental stores
- Ships more than 23,000 unique titles every day
- Delivers over 45 times more unique films per week than transmitted by broadcaster Sky Digital
- Ships over 2 DVDs a second, which equates to about 80 Gbits of data, or about the same size as LINX, the London Internet Exchange, which handles most of the UK's internet traffic
- Over 50% of all visits to online DVD rental services are to services powered by Video Island. Closest rivals trail by 30%. [Hitwise, Sept 05]
- Video Island's customer service track record was recognised when it became a finalist for the prestigious National Customer Service Awards 2005
- Tesco, the first ‘white label’ partner, has just extended its relationship with Video Island for a further two years
Helen Davis Jayalath, Screen Digest's Senior Analyst for Video commented, “According to a new report from Screen Digest[4], online DVD rental will generate over £50m in consumer spending in the UK alone this year, more than half the total figure for Europe. Over the next few years we expect this sector to expand exponentially as more and more consumers find that the combination of convenience and choice that the online DVD rental model offers fits in with their busy lifestyles. By 2009 the online/postal system is likely to account for one third of all European DVD rentals and almost two thirds of British rental transactions.”
[1] The outlook for online DVD rental, Screen Digest, November 2005
[2] European Video Software Markets, Screen Digest, 01 July 2004
[3] The outlook for online DVD rental, Screen Digest, November 2005
[4] The outlook for online DVD rental, Screen Digest, November 2005
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