Direct-Mail DVD Subscribers on the Rise

By Ian Bell April 5, 2005

According to a new report from research and strategic marketing firm The Diffusion Group, these households constitute a fertile target market for vendors pushing new digital devices and services.

TDG’s latest report, Direct-Mail DVD Subscribers: Profiling the “Blockbuster Busters”, finds households that subscribe to DM-DVD services demonstrate a much higher ownership or proclivity to purchase both fixed and portable consumer electronic devices, as well as the services that enable these devices. Most notably, their interest in portable digital electronics such as portable media centers and digital music players is well above average.

“Current DM-DVD households are not only frequent movie watchers; they are generally more ‘digitally inclined’ than the average Internet user,” says Dale E. Gilliam III, contributing analyst with TDG and co-author of the new study. “As such, understanding these households can help ‘digital lifestyle’ companies better target those consumers more likely to purchase their products and services.”

Other interesting characteristics of current DM-DVD households include the following:

Current DM-DVD subscribers are approximately 25% more likely than non-subscribing Internet households to store digital video or music on their home PCs;
They are significantly more likely than non-subscribing Internet households to own a portable digital music player such as an MP3 player or iPod; however, they are not more likely to own, nor more interested in owning, a portable DVD player.
They are 47% more likely than non-subscribing Internet households to purchase a Portable Media Center or Player if the price is below $400; and
They are 52% more likely than non-subscribing Internet households to already own a portable digital music or MP3 player, and 38% more likely to purchase such a device in the next year.

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