Movie pricing for Kaleidescape’s new rental option (see 2101280046) is “generally around" $7.95 per title, “though premium VOD can be higher,” emailed CEO Tayloe Stansbury Thursday. “Of the 12,000 titles available in our movie store in the US, 8,000 are available for rental (5,500 available for rental in Canada).” Kaleidescape’s main rationale for offering the rental option was that “sometimes a customer is interested in a movie, but not enough to purchase a perpetual playback license,” he said. “They get the rental in the same high-bitrate format as a purchase, and if they love it and want to keep it, half the rental price is applied to purchase.” Most movies in the Kaleidescape store cost $15-$20 to buy, with some priced at $25 and $35. Rental viewing is for a 48-hour window, and the purchase option is available within 30 days of the rental transaction. PVOD movie titles “will sometimes be made available early for rental only,” and that was another rationale for the offering, he said.
Viewers watched an estimated 2.3 billion minutes of Wonder Woman 1984 during its first two days of streaming availability, emailed Nielsen Friday, giving its first public release of viewership data for HBO Max content. Nielsen releases subscription VOD viewership data publicly on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and Disney+. After Wonder Woman, top SVOD programs for the week of Dec. 21-27 were Disney+'s Soul at 1.7 billion minutes, The Office (192 episodes, Netflix) at 1.4 billion and Bridgerton (eight episodes, Netflix) at 1.2 billion.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will also speak at the Feb.11 meeting of the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (see 2101270061).
Kaleidescape communicated to dealers this week a new movie rental option on its Strato devices for viewing feature films at the same full resolution as purchased titles, we learned. Once customers download a rental movie, Kaleidescape will give them 30 days to start watching it, with a 48-hour viewing window. A rented movie can be downloaded to only one home at a time and watched on only one player at a time, dealers were told. If a customer decides to buy the rented movie within 30 days of the rental transaction, half the rental price will be applied toward the purchase. Kaleidescape didn't comment.
COVID-19 juiced up the cord-cutting trend, with 31% of Americans now cord cutters and 41% of those making the decision in the past year, What If Media Group reported Wednesday. It surveyed 23,000 consumers online in December. It said 52% of current cable customers are considering cutting the cord, with 31% planning to do so “imminently” or “in the new year.” It said 66.6% of households subscribe to one or two streaming services, and 17% subscribe to three. And 58% have a $15 cap for how much they're willing to spend monthly on streaming; 36% had password access to a friend or family member's streaming service; and 51% don't consider that as stealing.
Comcast will drop its "roommate"/"living with AT&T commercial" and drop or modify its "best in-home WiFi experience" claim, the National Advertising Review Board said Wednesday. NARB said AT&T challenged the ad, with Comcast appealing and AT&T cross-appealing. The appellate body for the Better Business Bureau’s advertising self-regulatory programs said Comcast indicated it will “take NARB’s recommendations under consideration in future advertising.” Comcast didn't comment.
The FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment meets virtually Feb. 11, said a public notice Wednesday. The meeting will feature remarks from acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and Commissioners Brendan Carr, Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington, and reports from the Access to Capital, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector working groups.
Cowen forecast 24% Q4 revenue growth to $828 million for Vimeo parent IAC, after the video platform’s announcement Monday it raised $300 million in equity funding. In a Tuesday investor note, analyst John Blackledge attributed expected stronger financial results to investments and the impact of COVID-19 to multiple business segments. IAC said last month it plans to spin off Vimeo as an independent company this year, which Blackledge pegged for Q2. He forecast strong Q4 revenue growth for Vimeo at 53% driven by strong growth in subscribers and average revenue per user. IAC reports Q4 Feb. 3.
Comscore debuted a “cross-screen" tool for measuring movie audiences “regardless of release windows” and where films are consumed, said the analytics company Monday. The pandemic "has forced us all to throw out conventional wisdom," said Chris Aronson, Paramount president-domestic distribution. "We're confident that people are going to return to theaters in force." He said more consumer choices for content "means we need new solutions to truly understand audience behavior as they engage with content on their terms and their screens.”
S&P downgraded AMC Entertainment to SD from CC on the theater owner’s increasingly precarious cash-poor position amid pandemic-induced shutdowns and audience declines, said the ratings service Friday. Though the $100 million raised in a “debt-for-equity” deal with Mudrick Capital Management gives the chain some “incremental near-term liquidity,” S&P believes that will provide less than a month of additional cash: “We view this transaction as distressed and tantamount to a default because the lender received less than originally promised. ... Monthly cash burn was about $125 million in late 2020, and we have seen no indication that it will materially improve.” The company didn’t comment. The stock closed 17.8% higher Friday at $3.51.