Sony pushes DVD rentals. Disk-Man due on October 1............
twice.com
Sony To Push DVD Disc Rental - -September 9, 1998
By Bob Gerson
In a campaign to start late this month, Sony will promote DVD as a rental product in an eight-market joint effort with the home video arms of Warner and Columbia TriStar.
Set to launch in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, the promotion will offer 10 free rentals through participating video software specialty retails to purchasers of any Sony DVD player.
The campaign, according to Sony DVD marketing VP Mike Fidler, is part of a broader program designed to expand the scope of the overall DVD market by offering new concepts to consumers.
While DVD is considered to be primarily a sell-through software business, VHS video software rental transactions far exceed unit sales, Fidler said at a media briefing in New York. He cited VSDA figures showing that while consumers purchased some 635 million pre-recorded cassettes last year, they also engaged in 2.8 billion rentals.
He said West Coast Video and Hollywood Video are among the major chains agreeing to participate in the campaign, and added that Sony, as well as the studios, will be providing dealers with extra promotional funds.
The Sony announcement came on the heels of Blockbuster's revelation that it will be rolling DVD hardware, as well as software, rentals out to 500 stores this month, and that it expects the offer to be in all its outlets by year-end. It has been testing DVD software rentals in about 100 stores since April 1997.
Initial roll-out markets include Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Richmond, Va., Salinas/Monterey, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. At start-up the outlets will stock 350 DVD rental and 150 sale titles as well as eight Philips-supplied DVD players. Blockbuster said DVD rentals will be priced the same as tape, while the players will be available for a rental not to exceed $14.99. Blockbuster also will offer DVDs for sale through its web site.
In addition to its rental campaign, Sony has tied up with the Internet software sales and rental marketer NetFlix in a consumer purchase incentive effort, dubbed You Pick The Flix, that runs from October 1 through January 31. Buyers of Sony DVD players through conventional retailers will be able to order up to five free discs from NetFlix's 1,600-disc library, with the actual number depending on the Sony model purchased.
In an extension of that tie, Sony will launch Sony Club DVD on the NetFlix site. Members will get exclusive offers and be able to participate in sweepstakes and give-away promotions staged by Sony and NetFlix. They also will receive a Sony newsletter covering the company's hardware and software products.
Separately, Fidler announced Sony has started shipping its five-disc DVD/CD changer to dealers, and said, the unit is expected to retail for about $799. Purchasers will get a free copy of Sony Music's James Taylor Live DVD music video plus a copy of the artist's Hourglass CD.
Due October 1, Fidler said, is a personal portable DVD package that includes Sony's screen-less DVD Discman portable and its Glasstron headset LCD TV display. The combo will carry a $1,299 suggested retail and come with a mail-in offer for a free carrying case. Also, coming in mid-to-late November is a new high-end remote surround sound DVD player (DVP-S7700), which can be hooked up to and control Sony's CDP CX220 200-disc CD changer. Suggested retail will be $1,199. |
