Report: iTunes accounts for 90% of paid video downloads

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Report: iTunes accounts for 90% of paid video downloads

About 1.2 million U.S. households purchased at least one video download from an online store in the third quarter of 2006, according to data from the NPD Group. Of those paid downloads, approximately 90% were bought from Apple’s iTunes Store. Trailing far behind were Vongo (5%), Movielink (3%), and CinemaNow (less than 1%). The paid video downloads were mostly made up of TV Shows (62%), followed by music videos (24%), and mainstream movies (6%). NDP senior analyst Russ Crupnick believes paid downloads “could double or triple within the next year as more content comes online, consumers acquire more video-enabled players and movies are offered that consumers can actually burn to DVD.’’

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Comments

1

At first I thought the idea of paying for TV shows was ridiculous, but now my mind has changed. I’m considering dropping my DirecTV service and either purchasing select shows from the iTS or using BitTorrent. I was forced to use BitTorrent to download the unaired episodes of “Vanished”, and it was fairly easy to sue, but really slow. Purchasing a season of shows from the iTS is very similar to having a Season Pass on TiVo. Whenever new episodes air, they are there waiting for you. Even buying five or six series would be much cheaper than $50-70 per month for satellite that I honestly don’t watch that often.

Posted by Galley in Greenville, SC on December 20, 2006 at 3:24 PM (PDT)

2

Whats faster than torrents is buying a rapidshare account and finding a good warez-bb that posts the TV shows on Rapidshare. If you use a download manager you can max out your connection.

Posted by Josh Powell in VA on December 20, 2006 at 3:39 PM (PDT)

3

Somethings tells me that the mods ain’t gonna be too happy with the direction this discussion is heading….

Posted by ahMEmon on December 20, 2006 at 4:34 PM (PDT)

4

Well, Fox forced me to use BitTorrent when they made Internet Explorer and an ActiveX control a requirement to watch the unaired episodes. What’s a Mac user to do? I’d rather pay for content that is easy to access, such as that found on the iTunes Store.

Posted by Galley in Greenville, SC on December 20, 2006 at 5:12 PM (PDT)

5

And the hammering sound you hear is another nail in the coffin of broadcast TV.

Posted by Multimoog on December 20, 2006 at 9:52 PM (PDT)

6

I have no idea why they can’t just have an exclusive bittorrent file, and when you pay for the item your IP if allowed to access the torrent. Even if the technology doesn’t currently supported, you can’t say that’s not possible. And that way, faster downloads by virtue of bittorrent’s unlimited bandwidth, redownloading is possible, and very hard to get it for free. Apart from AOL users who switch IPs, apparently.

Posted by _Ethan on December 21, 2006 at 5:17 AM (PDT)

7

_Ethan, I have NO idea what you just said.

Posted by urbanslaughter on December 21, 2006 at 7:29 AM (PDT)

8

It’s like _Ethan skipped typing every two or three words.

Posted by cannon on December 21, 2006 at 12:17 PM (PDT)

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