Is Best Buy Finally Getting Serious about CinemaNow?
Andy Tarczon, Founding Partner
August 19, 2011
CinemaNow could easily be considered the hot potato of OTT. Starting as a standalone company running a movie streaming service, then acquired by Sonic in 2008 who eventually separated the platform - renamed to RoxioNow - from the service - CinemaNow. That CinemaNow brand name was acquired by Best Buy in May 2010, while RoxioNow was picked up by Rovi as part of the Sonic acquisition. And if you are confused by that brief history, just give it a couple weeks - we'll see if the name changes yet again.
Best Buy's positioning was a response to Wal-mart's VUDU acquisition, moves giving both retailers the opportunity to continue serving as the destination for content even in the digital world. Such positioning is important as DVD sales continue to decline and OTT services, such as Netflix, continue to expand almost exponentially. Indeed, we've been talking about retailer opportunities since Jan 2009. Part of the popularity of a DVD purchase was access to that content at any time, not necessarily the number of times a movie will be watched - a form of an on-demand library. Why own a movie when I will only watch it once or twice? Renting is instant and simple.
With more and more connected devices gaining a foothold in more and more households, it is time for the retailers to take an active stance in driving these markets. Imagine the possibilities of tying free rentals and new service to drive device connectivity. We've been seeing this from VUDU, from free trial deals with LG to iPad streaming, etc. CinemaNow, though, has seemingly languished over the past 15 months.
Recently I found an email in my inbox offering a complimentary rental for a recently purchased Blu-ray device. Ironically, the free rental was for the movie "Unknown" - I wish I could make this stuff up...
The reality, though, is that Best Buy can go further. Use the service to promote better connectivity and installation services, create stronger ties to the RewardZone program, design more promotions driving free rentals as part of the purchase, and/or build active demos in the stores.
If not, feel free to pass the hot potato to the next owner before it slips into the "Unknown."
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