Rentrak (RENT) reports that U.S. home video rental revenues grew during Q1 2005

In its Home Video Essentials report on the U.S. Home Video Rental market, Rentrak Corporation (ticker: RENT) announced that consumer spending on home rentals and previously viewed sales during 1Q05 increased from the year-earlier period.  Details below:

Here's a quote from the press release:

According to intelligence derived from Home Video Essentials 2.0, which
compiles weekly point-of-sale (POS) transactions scanned from home
entertainment product bar codes, consumer spending in both the brick-and-
mortar and online channels reached $2.44 billion, up 3% from the $2.38 billion
spent last year. 

Revenue from traditional a la carte rentals along with on and offline
subscriptions were up 0.6% year-over-year, while sales for combined DVD/VHS
previously-viewed titles were up an extraordinary 23% from last year. 

"While the VHS format is certainly on a downward trend, the market is
being lifted by consumers' transference to DVDs and migration to online
channels," said Brad Hackley, Vice President of Business Development for Home
Video Essentials™ at Rentrak.

Quick comment:  This is a positive market trend which may bode well for individual video rentailers such as Blockbuster (ticker: BBI), Movie Gallery (ticker: MOVI) and Hollywood Entertainment (ticker: HLYW) and Netflix (ticker: NFLX).