Lovefilm appears ready to expand in to new countries – minus the DVDs.
The movie subscription service currently operates in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
C21 had the original story (payment required). Lovefilm chief marketing officer Simon Morris tells paidContent: “We’re looking to grow the business wherever customers want our service. If the product is right, we’d look at a digital-only service for certain markets.
“We’re in the right place – subscription, a good range (of content), a good price, great product, great interface… internet-delivered into the living room, with the back-up of additional range delivered by post. We’ve got to believe that is the way forward.”
Lovefilm’s online catalogue is only about a tenth the size of its DVD and Blu-ray repertoire, primarily because Sky Movies has the lock-up on the freshest, best Hollywood titles via subscription VOD.
But that’s a UK problem. There may well be other countries with a less dominant pay movie operator. It would seem odd to go in to those countries by stocking thousands of DVDs in a warehouse. So the time certainly appears to be approaching for a digital-only Lovefilm – in some parts of the world.
Lovefilm’s thoughts on expansion come as its big Stateside rival Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) considers its own expansion in to both Lovefilm’s UK backyard and elsewhere. But it would also coincide with the connected TV explosion.
