"While Netflix is Shuttering its Disc Rental Business, the DVD & Blu-ray Disc Industry Still Generates $1.34 Billion Annually in the U.S.," blared a headline from the research company formerly known as the NPD Group, rebranded as "Circana" in March. 

But if you're also wondering if Netflix left a perfectly still viable physical disc rental operation behind when it announced a few weeks ago the coming shuttering of its DVD.com business, know that this headline is at least a bit deceiving. 

As a Circana rep confirmed to Next TV, the firm's "$1.34 billion" figure accounts for disc sales between March 2022 - March 2023, but not rentals of physical discs. 

According to the Digital Entertainment Group, which gets sales data directly from studio suppliers, total physical rentals in the U.S. last year, kiosk and by-mail outlets included, totaled only $502.35 million. Netflix said it generated only $146 million last year renting discs. 

For its part, Circana worked hard in today's announcement to sell the notion that disc purchasing is still a thing. In the U.S., the research company said, 26% of households have bought a disc title in the last six months. (Editor's note: We have not visited a single one of these households in the last six months.)

“Consumers continue to show interest in the nostalgia and collectability of physical media, notable as Record Store Day just celebrated its 15th anniversary,” said John Buffone, VP and industry advisor at Circana, in a statement. "It’s no surprise that in the height of streaming video era the DVD still holds a place in consumers’ hearts and on retailers’ shelves.”

Maybe ... but DEG reported a 20% year-over-year decline in U.S. disc sales last year. 

One element of today's Circana announcement that didn't feel like complete B.S.: The company said that traditional standard definition DVD continues to significantly outsell Blu-ray, controlling 71% of the remaining sell-through market. 

That means all those HD DVD-vs.-Blu-ray "Format War" discussions we had 18 years back were even more pointless than we thought. 

In the subscription video-on-demand business, price has suddenly replaced content as king.

According to recent surveys conducted by NPD Group, free signup promotions went from being the No. 4 reason consumers signed up for an SVOD service back in October to being their top rationale in April. 

And price went from the No. 4 reason to cancel a subscription streaming service to the No. 2 reason. ("I'm not watching as much as before," was the top reason ticked off by survey respondents.)

“In the last several months consumers have had to navigate rising prices in many facets of their lives and SVOD services are part of that mix with companies like Netflix and Amazon raising their subscription rates,” said John Buffone, executive director, industry analyst at NPD. “While cost considerations in SVOD services are still dramatically lower than in cable and satellite TV, it is important for providers to recognize that price sensitivity is growing so they can adjust their offerings to retain their subscriber base.” 

NPD Group surveyed 5,000 U.S. adult consumers in October and April to come up with the comparative analysis in its Connected Intelligence TV Service Switching Study. (The research company would not provide Next TV a copy of the report without us paying for it ... which in our desperate line of work, just doesn't happen very often.)

“Consumers are creating a value equation to determine what services they ‘need’ versus those they cancel, especially as they return to experiential activities,” added Buffone. “For some consumers ad supported tiers can be a way to cut costs without losing access to content. As we look to the future – including potential AVOD offerings from Netflix and Disney -- understanding the differing consumer value propositions will be key in determining tier structure and pricing strategies.”

Conversely, when paying a premium for no-ad versions of SVOD services, consumers tend to engage more. NPD Group said 28% who signed up from premium tiers used the service every day vs. only 20% for those who select a partially ad-supported plan. 

Consumers that pay a premium for ad-free viewing also place significantly more value in content availability, exclusivity, search, discovery, and user interface, indicating they are a more engaged consumer," NPD added. ■

Roku said it has surpassed Samsung as the No. 1 supplier of smart TV operating system software in the U.S. and Canada.

“Roughly one in three TVs sold in the U.S. and Canada is running the Roku operating system,” said Steven Louden, speaking at the Citi 2021 Global TMT West Virtual Conference Wednesday. 

Roku has made that one-in-three claim before. However, sometime in the third quarter, the company—which licenses its OS to 15 OEM brands, including No. 2 U.S. smart TV seller TCL—surpassed No. 1 smart TV seller Samsung in terms of sheer OS distribution, according to what it said is NPD Group ranking data. 

Roku said 38% of smart TVs sold in the U.S. are powered by its OS, while the number stands at 31% in Canada ... eh. 

“We’ve gone from no market share to No. 1 in five years, and we’re making tremendous progress in Mexico,” Louden added. 

Roku is also seeking to expand its sound bar technology, announcing a new reference design for the OEM market. 

The reference design uses Roku’s proprietary audio technology to connect wirelessly with any Roku-powered smart TV model, offering audio and video synchronization. It will also seeks to ensure simple set-up and easy operation with one Roku TV remote.

Roku also announced that Element will launch a sound bar and subwoofer later this month enabled with Roku TV Ready, a partnership program designed to ensure simple setup, easy access to sound settings, and compatibility with Roku TV remotes. Element joins TCL, Hisense, Enclave, Sound United and Bose, which all released Roku TV Ready-certified audio products in the U.S. in 2020.  Roku aims to expand the availability of Roku TV Ready program internationally and will announce partners and products by country at a later stage.

Adoption of 4K TVs has a way to go, but the good news for TV makers is that awareness of sets that use the pixel-packed format is on the rise.

According to a new report from NPD Connected Intelligence, 52% of people surveyed said they are aware of 4K/Ultra HD TV products, a stat that spikes to 73% among consumers who own an Internet-connected TV.

Those findings reflect a recent study from Leichtman Research Group that found that 41% of adults had heard of 4K/Ultra HD, up from 30% last year.

NPD, which based its results on a survey of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers 18 years old and older in late January/early February, said about one-third say they are very likely or somewhat likely to use a 4K TV in the future, with interest strongest among men, millennials and smart TV owners.

About 6 million 4K UHD TVs were sold through April 2016, according to NPD Group’s  Retailer Tracking Service.  Strategy Analytics issued a forecast last week that predicts 11 million homes in North America will own a 4K/Ultra HD TV by the end of 2016.

On the content side, 32% said they are aware of 4K streaming services (and 42% among 18-to-34 year-olds), thanks in part to offerings on widely adopted SVOD services from Netflix and Amazon.

 “While sales are spiking and demand is high, 4K UHD TVs remain an early adopter product,” John Buffone, executive director, industry analyst, NPD Connected Intelligence, said in a statement. “Our data shows that just eight percent of consumers say they have used a 4K UHD TV. But, all of the trends point towards rapid growth during 2016 and beyond.”

Though 4K TV awareness and adoption will likely go hand-in-hand as more content in the format becomes available, not everyone is quite as bullish. Comcast, for one, is emphasizing a strategy centered on High Dynamic Range (HDR), which supports pretty (not just more) pixels and can be applied to both HD and 4K platforms.  

Gamers are big into watching either live gaming competitions or just informal video of streaming gameplay by others, to the tune of 44% of all gamers in the past six months, according to a study from The NPD Group.

Of those who stream, 46% do so weekly and 18% will do it at least once a day. Among all those who stream gaming content, the average session comes out to almost three hours.

“[Live gaming] may have seemed like a niche phenomenon in the past, but it has clearly taken off with strong activity and engagement with consumers,” said Liam Callahan, industry analyst for The NPD Group. “This is positive for the gaming industry on multiple levels, not only bringing excitement from the events themselves, but also from a marketing standpoint as consumers learn and can then potentially spend on games featured at e-sports events.”

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

About 49 million U.S. Internet homes now own some type of connected-TV or connected-TV streaming device, an increase of about 6 million homes, or 14%, over the past year, according to a new report from NPD Group.

The study, based on a survey of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers conducted in Q4 2015, found that the latest numbers mean more than half (52%) of all U.S. Internet homes have at least one device in the growing category.

Broadband-fueled gaming consoles still represent the highest penetration from a device-type standpoint (see chart), followed by the surging market for streaming media players, as well as connected TVs and Blu-ray players, per NPD’s study, Connected Intelligence Connected Home Entertainment Report

The research firm estimates that the average connected TV home had nearly three (2.9) devices installed that could stream video/programming from apps directly to the television screen.

“Ownership of connected televisions and streaming media players is accelerating while the availability of streaming content is simultaneously expanding,” John Buffone, executive director, Connected Intelligence at NPD Group, said in a statement. “These combined forces will continue to drive increased adoption of connected devices within U.S. households. At the same time, as the number of households that have access to apps on TVs rises, so too do the business opportunities for content owners and distributors.”

About half of U.S. homes now own a connected TV device, a category that spans connected TVs, game consoles, streaming players and Blue-ray Disc players, NPD Group found in a new study.

The number of homes with a connected device stands at about 46 million, up 4 million since Q2 2014, NPD Group found its new report.

The research firm’s retailing tracking service discovered that that 45% of TVs sold in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2015 supported apps, up from 34% last year, and up from 24% two years ago. Consumers are also connecting those TVs to the Internet at increased rates, as 69% of all installed Internet-capable TVs were connected, versus 61% last year, and 45% in 2013.

Among individual apps, Netflix retained its crown as the most commonly used OTT video services in Q2 2015, followed by YouTube, Amazon Prime/Instant Video, Hulu and HBO Go and HBO Now, the programmer’s new standalone OTT subscription offering.

 “The increase in the number of homes that use a TV with apps is the result of three very important factors,” said John Buffone, NPD Group’s executive director, Connected Intelligence, said in a statement. “Sales of TVs with apps have skyrocketed, their user interfaces have improved and there has been a surge in available premium services and programming.”

NPD Group based its findings on a survey of more than 5,000 U.S. consumers age 18 and older throughout the second quarter of 2015.