• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 2, 2008

With Madison Avenue focused on how to deal with the transition from traditional forms of television to online video, a new study indicates that traditional forms of video - especially the ubiquitous DVD player - continue to dominate the video rental marketplace.

"While consumers are indeed turning to new video technologies - such as online streaming and mobile video - most of their video-related spending continues to be on conventional sources such as DVD rentals and purchases," finds Knowledge Networks in the new report, "How People Use® the Video Marketplace," which is scheduled to be released later today.

The findings indicate that younger consumers - especially so-called Generation Y-ers (persons ages 13 to 29), and Generation X-ers (ages 30 to 43) are significantly ahead of baby boomers in their use of all emerging video platforms, but they also are among the biggest users of conventional DVDs (see table below).

"DVDs are the bread and butter of content providers," states David Tice, vice president and group account director at Knowledge Networks and director of The Home Technology Monitor, which was the basis for the new report. Tice adds that the expanding forms of video access are training consumers to have a new kind of on-demand expectation in which they can watch video on the platform of their choice, when and where they want to see it.

"The question is will consumers be willing to pay for the convenience of access in the digital world," he questions. "And how can content and service providers encourage repeat use and buying in the new media?"

Use/Purchase of Video Options (By Generation)
	Gen Y (13-29)	Gen X (30-43)	Young Boomers (44-54)
DVD user	98%	98%	88%
Monthly DVD buyer	67	71	51
Monthly DVD renter	67	65	44
Streaming video user	52	37	21
Monthly streaming video buyer	3	4	3
Downloaded video user	37	18	11
Monthly downloaded video buyer	2	2	*
Cell phone video user	10	2	2
Monthly cell phone video buyer	1	1	1

Source: Knowledge Networks. To be read: 98% of all persons age 13-29 report using DVDs; 67% report buying a DVD at least once a month; and so on.