Average Consumer Rejects $25 Day And Date Movie Service, According To Report

Day and date movie streaming services could have an uphill battle on their hands to win over the average consumer, after a survey revealed that just 9% were convinced by the $25 pricing being floated around by some studios.

The survey commissioned by Variety asked consumers whether they would be willing to pay $25 to see a movie at home if they could see it the day it entered cinemas. The average consumer outright rejected the idea, with 77% of respondents saying that they wouldn’t.

That will be a major blow to movie studios who are currently said to be negotiating with cinema chains to reduce the release window. Warner Bros. has supposedly suggested pricing in the region of $50, with only 5% of survey respondents willing to pay that price. A whopping 89% of people said they wouldn’t pay $50 for the opportunity to watch films at home during their theatre release.

Universal and Fox both are said to disagree with the $50 pricing, although both have supposedly floated the idea of $30 rentals. The average consumer would still reject that.

One thing to note about the survey is that consumers were asked if they were willing to pay to watch films at home on the day of their release in cinemas. According to industry sources, not a single movie studio is negotiating same-day home rental, with Universal said to be the most bullish with a 20-day delay between the cinema and rental release.

Despite the average consumer rejecting the idea of paying for day and date releases, even the 9% of consumers convinced by the pricing could represent a massive opportunity for movie studios. At the US and Canadian box office over 1.32bn tickets were sold in 2015. If 9% of those tickets converted to home rentals, there’s the potential to sell 118.8m rentals. That’s potential revenue of $2.97bn for those who pay $25 per rental. Those willing to pay $50 could potentially bring in revenue of $3.3bn.

While the average consumer may not be willing to pay for day and date movie services, those with custom installed home cinemas will probably jump at the idea.