Australia’s video retail and rental body has slammed a report claiming that the industry is doomed to long term decline.
The report from IbisWorld ranks video rental outlets as one of the bottom five growth industries for 2010. But the Australian Video Rental Retailers Association told Encore the report is based on old data.
The report says that “increasing electronic distribution of video content and a greater volume of both pay and free-to-air television programming has resulted in a long-term downward trend for video hire outlets”, and projects a 3.7 percent revenue decrease (to $524 million) and a loss of 1.5 percent of jobs in the sector.
“The problem with IBISWorld’s inclusion of the video rental industry in its list of industries predicted to fall in 2010 is that its summary is based on old data, a February 2009 industry report,” said George Papadopoulos, Leading Edge Video and Music Group MD and board member of AVRRA.
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“It fails to acknowledge the continued barriers to consumers taking up limited online delivery modes in Australia.”
AVRRA released a paper entitled The Video Stores in Australia Industry in November, based on data provided anonymously and voluntarily by video stores around Australia. The report showed six years of continuous growth, including a forecast 9.25 percent income growth for the movie rental business for 2009, in contrast to IBISWorld’s projection of a 3.7 percent revenue downturn in 2010.