can't agree with you. apples vs oranges. the rental market exploded moneywise because it was a "monopoly" distributing porn. buyers had no internet, no PPV, & buying videos mail order was expensive. If a consumer wanted to rent 10 movies, that was $30 for 1 night.
Now the buyers have many choices. They can order PPV. They can buy microniches. For the same $30, consumers get far more than 10 videos for 1 night; they get an entire library for 30 days, & get to keep the downloads forever. Most important, they no longer even need to pay at all. Just surf the tubes, usenets & torrents, & pay only when necessary. Todays consumer has so much choice the eras are incomparable.
Paul, you could easily test this by converting all your $30 downloadable paysites to $3 streaming/rental sites, & see what happens to your revenue. If the answer was an explosion in profits, the big sites would be doing this by now.
The industry really is in serious trouble with all the free content. the producers will have to live in a model with less revenue coming in & make the adjustment. less movie releases, more focus on differentiating the product in the market. The only people that make money in a glut are the ones selling something unique.
