Rentrak Corporation today announced an expanded agreement with Warner Home Video to offer for the first time Blu-ray Disc titles with its revenue sharing program. This deal significantly increases the amount of BD content available to retailers participating in Rentrak's Pay-Per-Transaction (PPT) system.
Rentrak's expanding Blu-ray Disc title offering comes at a time when consumers are interacting with the format more than ever before. According to Rentrak's Home Video Essentials service, consumer rental spending on Blu-ray Discs increased 49% from last year. Revenue sharing through Rentrak enables Warner greater market penetration at the "rentailer" level while ensuring all retailers have access to Blu-ray Disc releases from Warner commensurate with consumer demand for the format.
Indeed, this comes in the wake of Warner's relative falling out with other rentailers, both bricks-and-mortar and by mail. The studio is seeking to impose a 28-day delay for its new releases rented by Redbox (prompting a lawsuit from the kiosk operator) and Warner's CFO remarked
a week ago that the studio was not getting "enough economics" out of the Netflix channel. It is not known if this will affect the availability of Warner BDs at rentailers not affiliated with a revenue-sharing program.
"Warner has developed an impressive track record with respect to creating and marketing film properties that resonate with the consumer," said Marty Graham, president of the home entertainment division at Rentrak. "We are thrilled to be able to offer both Warner's DVD and Blu-ray Disc new release content to retailers participating in our revenue sharing program."
"With the competitive landscape continually changing, having access to a Warner program that offers both copy depth and breadth advantages was a key factor in choosing to participate in revenue sharing," said Travis Tozier, vice president of the 29-store Movie Starz Video chain of Virginia.