LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Americans spent more money renting home movies than buying them for only the second time in the DVD era.
According to The Digital Entertainment Group, an industry consortium of studios and electronics makers, rental revenue in the three months through June rose 11 percent from a year ago to $2.06 billion.
Sales of discs and digital purchases fell 15 percent to $1.93 billion.
DEG executive director Amy Jo Smith says the results are only apparent because the group included subscription plans, such as mail-order DVD and streaming company Netflix, in the rental category this year.
According to IHS Screen Digest, the last time rental revenues beat purchases was in 2000, when DVD sales were taking off.