Americans will soon be watching more online movies than movies on DVD, and industry research firm says.
A report released Thursday by IHS iSuppli forecast that online views, or paid "transactions," will hit 3.4 billion this year, compared with 2.4 billion for physical copies, CNN reported.
That's a substantial change from last year, when HIS said physical videos easily stayed on top with 2.6 billion views, compared to 1.4 billion for online.
IHS said it expects the trend toward more online viewing to accelerate.
"2012 will be the final nail to the coffin on the old idea that consumers won't accept premium content distribution over the Internet," Dan Cryan, IHS analyst of broadband and digital media, said in the report.
Streaming subscription services from Netflix, Amazon, Prime and others helped propel online video to the top spot, accounting for 94 percent of all paid online movie consumption, the report said.
Physical DVDs still beat out their online counterparts when it comes to total revenue, with IHS forecasting physical formats will bring in $11.1 billion in revenue this year while online views will generate $1.7 billion.
That's because consumers pay an average of 51 cents for every movie watched online, IHS says, compared to $4.72 for physical videos.
