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Online DVD Rental Market Forecast

The online DVD rental market in the U.S. and Europe will exceed $1 billion and 6.3 million subscribers in 2005, growing to almost $3 billion by 2009, according to a report from London-based market research firm Screen Digest.

More than 381 million rental DVDs will be delivered to U.S. customers in 2005 -- the lion's share to Netflix's 3.5 million subscribers -- while 45 million DVDs will be rented online in Europe.

In the U.K., where online rentals from firms like Video Island already represent 10 percent of all rentals, online rentals are projected to account for half the market in 2009. In greater Europe, online rentals made up one-fiftieth of consumer spending in 2004, but are expected to grow to account for one-third of the rental market by 2009.

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