Netflix vs. Blockbuster Revisited

Thomas Hawk writes "Exactly one year ago at thomashawk.com Davis Freeberg debated Wall Street analyst Michael Pachter regarding the future of the online DVD rental world. Freeberg maintained that Netflix was the clear and obvious choice for a winner while Pachter predicted that in the next 12 months Netflix would significantly underperform Blockbuster. Now another look one year later at the competitive landscape in the DVD market. Pachter is nice enough to continue the conversation and even admits in hindsight that he made a mistake regarding his prediction on Netflix vs. Blockbuster for the year past -- but Pachter still maintains that Blockbuster has the upper hand over Netflix in the coming year ahead. Freeberg, of course, thinks he's wrong once again and that Netflix will continue to dominate as the leader of this market. "

Re:It's to be expected really

[gEvil (beta)]

What's blockbuster got to top that?

Ummm, infinite rentals, no due dates, a massive library, and you can rent from your very own chair without ever leaving your house. (Hint: I'm not talking about the brick and mortar Blockbuster.)

Blockbuster's New Releases

[Anonymous Coward]

I got fed up with turn around time with netflix and went with blockbuster. A month later I'm now back with netflix. Blockbuster will not send you a new release until it has been released for 90 days. Netflix will have the movie on your doorstep release day. After renting virtually limitless movies for a year New Releases are all I have to look forward to. Blockbuster not shipping new releases to force store visits completely contradicts what people are looking for.

Until blockbuster can realize that they need to stop putting all their weight behind their stores, netflix will always be the superior choice.

blockbuster in-store rental coupons

[MORTAR_COMBAT!]

they are just a pain in the ass. they come as e-mail links, you visit the web page, print it out, pick it up from the printer, then have to remember to bring the coupon when you go to the store. in the several months that i was a blockbuster online dvd rental subscriber, i didn't use a single in-store rental voucher. if, on the other hand, they had simply tied the coupons to my blockbuster account, i would have used them. and perhaps remained a customer. but as it was, the value-add just wasn't there.

Re:It's to be expected really

[Scutter]

Infinite rentals? Infinite up to 11 per month when they start throttling [msn.com] your [foxnews.com] deliveries [acmetech.com], you mean. Not such a good deal now, is it?

My shipping history...

[PortHaven]

For 2006 I've kept a log of my movie rentals to track turn-around-times. I recorded when a movie is sent, est. arrival, actual arrival and when I I recorded when I return the movie and how long until they log it received. It's about a 1.3 days on avg to receive a movie and 2.2 days on average for Netflix to record it received. A total turn-around time of 3.5 days per film. Not too bad, consider they're utilizing the postal service. (Which in my area is notoriously poor in performance. A letter mailed 2 hours away can take 4 days + to be delivered.)

Screw those guys....

[Lxy]

Support your local library. Membership is free, and usually you can borrow all the latest movies and music at no cost. There are late fees, but nothing near what Blockbuster et al charges.

MOD PARENT UP

[MustardMan]

Not only does blockbuster online (the thing being compared with netflix) do everything netflix does, you also get coupons for various in-store promotions, as well as free in-store rentals included in the cost of your rental program. I get two free in-store rentals each month, which means if I decide on a whim that I want to see a certain flick, I can pick it up without paying any extra on top of my monthly subscription fee. I still have my 3-out-at-a-time movies to pick from as well. BB does everything netflix does, plus some.

Why I switched

[DarkFencer]

Until this morning I was a Netflix user. I had cancelled this morning and subscribed with Blockbuster before reading this article. The problem with Netflix is getting 'new' movies. I am a medium level user with Netflix (I get a good amount but I'm not one of the more heavy users) but anytime I want something relatively new it is in "Long Wait" for weeks or even months.

Even if Blockbuster makes me wait a while for the newer movies then I can still get the one free in-store movie a week, as well as satisfy the impulse rentals that my wife and I want.

Re:How I look at it.

[jandrese]

In-store coupons for BB are pretty worthless where I live. BBs in-store selection is pathetic (almost completely lacking in older movies, even cult classics), and greater than 50% of the store is checked out pretty much all of the time. That's the reason I got Netflix in the first place, because it was usually the case that BB didn't have any movie that I was even vaguely interested in seeing. The small handfull of cult classics they had were always checked out, and they seemed to stock huge numbers of horrible movies (that stupid ocean liner horror movie stands out in my mind with a full wall of copies with disks behind them surrounded by a sea of checked out (better) movies).

All it took was BB screwing me on one late fee--got to the store around 11:55 or so, but had to stand outside waiting for the guy to finish his work on the door (apparently some punks had vandalized it the night before) before I could get in. Got in the store at a touch after 12 and got hit with a late fee because I was after the 12:00 time limit. The manager was insistant that I should have just gone earlier to drop it off too. Needless to say, that's the last time I've ever visited BB. I can't remember if I even paid that late fee.

Amazon Rentals

[TwentyQuestions]

I think Amazon will have the lead in a year or two. It has had good success in the UK and they are preparing to launch similar services in the US.

They have more than enough stock, and shipping centers. I think they can finally do online rentals right.

Re:I want what comes next

[mobiux]

The mysterious 4 day arrival thing comes from the different distribution centers.
Most of mine are from the minneapolis, but if minneapolis doesn't have the movie I want, it comes from san jose or someplace like that.
And they tend to ship back from where they came.
So i print up address labels to the minneapolis center, so all my movies get back in 1 day.

Re:MOD PARENT UP

[joshsisk]

Except that their web interface leaves a LOT to be desired. Netflix is really easy to use, get recommendations, and the whole "friends" interface is great... does BB have something to compete with this? I wouldn't switch just based on how useful the friends interface is in seeing if you really would like a film... You can see what all your friends thought about a film, including a short review. It's very useful.

Re:How I look at it.

[szrachen]

I found that to be a great deal as well. However, I also found that some months I really didn't feel like I needed any more movies than the ones that I got online (and that was when they only gave out 1 rental a month). I've since switched to Netflix because I didn't want to pay $17.99 for the 4 extra movies when I hardly need more than 2 at a time and don't necessarily need the in-store movies. I would guess that the vast majority of people are probably in the same boat.

I guess the way I see it, here is your decision:

Do you watch 3 or more movies a month?

• If Yes, continue...
• If No, just go to the movie store...

Do you need to get a movie at any time on a whim as long as you're alright with driving to the movie store and paying a little extra?

• If Yes, Blockbuster Online is probably better for you.
• If No, Netflix is probably better for you. Be patient grasshoppa.

Other considerations

• I have had better luck getting working discs from Netflix
• The friends recommendation system is pretty nice on Netflix (I don't recall if BBO had this)
• You may set up individual family member queues on Netflix

Experiment

[dsm131]

I did an experiment: I had never tried either service before. I joined both Netflix and Blockbuster at the same time about two or three months ago, and rented from them as fast as I could (returning movies the next day most of the time). The first month, Netflix was a bit faster (I think it led 15 to 11 or something, I don't have my notes here). The second month and beyond, Blockbuster was significantly better (almost 2 to 1). Figure in the Blockbuster coupons (which I do use, since there is a convenient Blockbuster for me), and it looks like I'll drop Netflix soon and keep Blockbuster. YMMV *shrug*