17 November 2005

The online DVD rental market is set to soar over the next four years, reveals a new report.

New research from Screen Digest suggests that more of us are turning to Internet to plan a night in on the sofa, predicting that at least half of the total UK rental expenditure with be spent online by 2009.

Across Europe, there are already almost one million subscribers to online DVD rental services with the UK leading the way.

"Online DVD rental will generate over £50m in consumer spending in the UK alone this year, more than half the total figure for Europe," Helen Davis Jayalath, senior analyst for Screen Digest told Netimperative.com.

Co-author of the report, Angus Woods, adds that the increasing demand for online rental services marks the growing trend for convenience in a "cash-rich time poor society"

"It's that marriage of choice and convenience that is fundamentally changing the experience of video rental," he concluded.

Similarly, consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet as a convenient way of doing their Christmas shopping, with more than half of Europeans planning to shop online this year.

According to research from Tradedoubler, 56 per cent of Europeans are expected to do around a quarter of their shopping via the web.

The number of people abandoning the high street and planning to do over half of their shopping online has doubled compared to last year.

Again UK consumers are leading the way with 80 per cent of Christmas shoppers expecting to do a minimum of 25 per cent of their shopping on the net.

© Adfero Ltd

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