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UK Rental Info Flow Crippled
UK video rental market research firm MRIB has announced it is currently unable to provide any information on the rental home entertainment market, as the demands of two separate rental companies begin to clash.
The news leaves the industry without any data or analysis on rental trends and follows yesterday’s announcement that DVD and CD distributor S Gold & Sons has entered administration, a development that saw 120 jobs lost and severs the flow of news titles to rental outlets.
“This is an undesirable situation for our industry to find itself in,” said Hannah Conduct, marketing manager at the British Video Association. “It is of great concern to the BVA and its members who rely on our monthly research reports as well as the many regional and national journalists who use the online charts on the BVA website.
“Without visibility on rental data, many of our members will not be able to plan any rental elements of their marketing campaigns or analyse the performance of their titles in the market,” she added.
The BVA been inundated with inquiries as to where stock can be sourced from following the loss of S Gold & Sons, and has published suggested alternatives on its website. It has urged the conflicting companies to resolve this situation swiftly in order to restore confidence on both sides of the rental supply chain.
Paul Basford, managing director of MRIB, said: “I am distinctly aware and deeply disappointed this leaves the video industry without a considerable amount of detailed reporting and analysis for planning and assessment of the sector’s performance. It comes at a time when the industry is examining and testing new ways of promoting rental asa well as the emergence of interesting models for the future of the sector.
“We’re still in discussion with the parties with hope of a satisfactory resolution to allow us to recommence publication,” he continued. “However, the current position leaves MRIB without any alternative but to cessate publication of any rental reporting and all associated charts in any form with immediate effect.”
The UK video rental market is already in decline, despite 98 million rental transactions generating £300 million throughout 2007. Last year, a number of rental chains went into administration.
Contact: James Batchelor