Since the turn of the century, there has been a huge decline in the release and sale of rental and retail visuals in physical format in Iceland.
The sale of rental videos (VHSs, DVDs and Blu-rays) from distributors to rental outlets has declined 98 percent since in 2001. A corresponding slump has also occurred over the same period in the number of transactions renters are making with the public.
Similar, albeit not as severe, is the decline in recent years in the sell-thru market. Sale of retail videos from distributors to the public has declined more than half in recent years.
The fall of the video market is, without doubt, related to increased hours watching television and all the new distribution methods of audio-visual content over the Internet.
The release of rental titles has declined continuously since 2004, by about 84 percent. U.S. productions are still by-far the most visible on the market, both in rental and retail titles, or about some seven out of every ten titles released every year.
In more recent years, the origin of released titles has become gradually more varied, especially with the increased number of European titles, and not the least domestic ones, Statistic Iceland reports.
The estimated number of transactions from rentals in the year 2014 is 250 thousand, down from 3.1 million in 2001.
