Which DVD Rental site is best for popular movies and new releases?

By Anna König Staff Writer Monday, 11 August 2008

UK DVD RENTAL FOR NEW RELEASES Questions Worth Asking: How likely are you to require a service which is hot on new releases? If you are keen on seeing your films on the big screen, you may find you have seen most of the new releases before they are out on DVD. If this is the case, a service which stocks a lot of new releases, but not a great variety of older films may not be the best for you. How close do you live to a Blockbuster store? If you live just down the road from a Blockbuster store, Blockbuster’s credit scheme will be great for you, as it allows you a certain amount of credits to use in store. However if you live in the Scottish Highlands, these credits will be of little use to you! Blockbuster | 55,000+ titles Includes 30 day free trial Try it free now! Lovefilm | 65,000 titles Includes 14 day free trial Try it free now! Other DVD Rental News & Features See our other recent related DVD rental and Games rental news stories: Which DVD rental sites offer Blu Ray rental? There is no point in going out to buy Blu Ray DVD's if you want to show off your hi-def TV's capabilities - you should rent them instead. But which UK DVD rental site offers the most Blu Ray titles for rent? Julia Kukiewicz sees blue and finds out.

NEW movies are constantly being churned out by the Hollywood greats, and as soon as the are available on DVD the online rental sites buy buy buy.

But which DVD rental site is the best for popular movies and new releases?

A huge bug-bear of UK DVD rental subscribers is the lack of availability of new titles. Sometimes you just cannot wait that little bit longer than expected to receive that new film from the top of your rental queue.

However this is to be expected, as it does not make sense for rental sites with user bases of close to one million to purchase a million copies of every new release!

Whether you’re a customer of a DVD rental giant (like LoveFilm) or a smaller player, you will not be immune from this problem. Nevertheless some sites perform better than others.

The question of which DVD rental site is the ‘best’ when it comes to new releases and popular movies is highly subjective, and a number of factors must be taken into consideration:

Exclusivity Deals

An exclusivity deal is when a DVD rental site is allowed the sole right to a particular movie for a set number of weeks. Recently we reported that Blockbuster had acquired exclusive rental rights to the film Son Of Rambow for two weeks.

This means that for a two week period, the only place you could rent Son Of Rambow from was Blockbuster.

Blockbuster shapes up very well when it comes to exclusivity deals, and as its online Customer Experience Manager, Mal Simons, promises that Blockbuster is ramping up the number of exclusive titles it holds.

"We’ve got a terrific line-up of online exclusives at the moment and we’re sure to have even bigger exclusives going forward. Blockbuster exclusives in 2008 have included 3.10 To Yuma, Lions for Lambs and Son of Rambo", says Simons.

It is worth bearing in mind that although Blockbuster may have its hands on that killer film two weeks before LoveFilm, the chances are that it will still attract high numbers of Blockbuster customers, and by the time you get your hands on a copy, Blockbuster’s exclusivity deal may have ended!

LoveFilm does not make efforts to stock exclusive titles, but does make sure it has every title released in stock. As Jason Norris, Affiliate Manager of LoveFilm, cheekily notes, ‘if other companies do not stock certain films, I guess that makes them exclusive to us!’

Thinking Outside The Box

WHEN trying to impress your customers and get ahead of the competition, it always helps to think outside the box. And that’s certainly what Blockbuster has been doing.

It has been trialling a system where subscribers get a few credits per month with their subscription to use at an actual Blockbuster store.

This is fantastic if your top choice didn’t arrive in time for your Friday takeaway and movie night, but is available at your local Blockbuster store.

Unfortunately Blockbuster is not officially saying anything more about whether it’ll roll this out as a regular addition to its service, but it is ChooseDVDRental’s feeling that this is a logical step for Blockbuster to take, and should bind their online and offline businesses together neatly.

LoveFilm and OutNow (formally MyMovieStream) are unable to offer this service, as they do not own actual high street stores.

Therefore this system should give Blockbuster a huge edge over its rivals, as the randomness of your DVD choices is always going to be the flaw in the online rental model.

The Number Of Copies

BLOCKBUSTER’S Mal Simons claims that Blockbuster "regularly buys more copies of new releases than anyone else, so it can provide its customers with the titles they really want, as well as sending 2 disc titles as just 1 rental."

Blockbuster is able to take new releases from its high street shops after the first week, bumping up the number of copies available to online customers even more!

LoveFilm was playing its cards close to its chest when we asked them about the number of new releases it purchases. However Jason Norris did reveal that LoveFilm has ‘a complex ordering system so that we order the right amount of stock to meet demand, and to monitor and adjust.’

And In Conclusion…

OVER all it would appear that Blockbuster is proving itself to be the best choice for latest releases and popular movies.

Its exclusivity deals are proving popular with its DVD rental customers, giving them a couple of weeks to see certain films before the likes of LoveFilm gets its hands on them.

As well as buying more copies of new releases than anyone else, Blockbuster is also able to take new releases from its high street stores (after 1 week), so even more copies are available for its online customers.

Finally Blockbuster’s credit scheme is fantastic for customers who live close to a Blockbuster high street store, providing said store has the desired movie in stock!

Blockbuster | 55,000+ titles
Includes 30 day free trial
Try it free now!

Lovefilm | 65,000 titles
Includes 14 day free trial
Try it free now!

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