Disney and Vudu have partnered to make the online purchasing and streaming of films simpler. This is a response to plummeting DVD sales and a rising trend of online content viewing.
As the world becomes more and more digitalised, companies are partnering to make it simpler for purchasers to download and integrate their movie libraries. This response is the result of a changing market, more centred on digital rather than hard copy media. Recently, the Walt Disney Company launched their cloud-based movie storage service which will give customers the opportunity to add their purchases from Wal-Mart’s online store Vudu.
Disney’s move is an attempt to steer their existing film fan base to make purchases on digital platforms, thereby maintaining their share in the market through mobile initiatives. Disney Movies Anywhere was launched in February with Apple’s iTunes and has also partnered with the Google Play online store this month. As a result of Disney’s partnerships, customers are now able to buy over 400 offered Disney, Pixar and Marvel films though the online retailers and watch them on a variety of mobile devices, computers and internet-connected televisions. The industry also aims to combat the rising number of people who simply rent instead of buy movies. It appears that people care less about having the movie than they do about simply seeing, experiencing and enjoying it. The days of flaunting shelves of movie collections are becoming an anachronism within a society which is content with online streaming and downloading of the content they want.
Although the move by Disney and other companies is a smart one, it is doubtful how much longer people will even want to pay for streaming and the cloud storage of media. With the rising trend in the use of streaming sites such as Megashare and torrent sites like The Pirate Bay, a rebellion of growing viewers are asking: “Why pay for something I can simply stream or download for free?” Some theorists propose that this is the way forward and eventually Hollywood will have to make films available for free download and viewing and depend solely on the big screen, product placement and advertisements for revenue.
It may seem far-fetched but this rapid change in the way most people access media may come sooner than the media giants want to admit.