A quarter of all respondents stated the reason they watched DVD's at home was not because they preferred to stay in – implying that the economic crisis is impacting people's entertainment choices.

These findings are unexpected given the fact that a similar report conducted in the US last month showed that people tended to go to the movies more in times of economic woe.  The New York Times reported that attendance numbers in the US had risen by 16% over the previous year.  However, the report was unable to conclude whether the rise was due to economic conditions or the quality of the films on offer.

"We are seeing many of our customers and potential customers cocooning – that is preparing themselves to spend more time at home as a result of the tougher financial climate," said Ben Hammond, Director of Marketing at Quickflix, "Our survey revealed that two out of three homes have a LCD or plasma TV so people are set up for a premium entertainment experience at home."

"Consumers are spending plenty of time watching movies at home with close to 60% of respondents watching more than five DVD's in the last month. More than 95% of those surveyed had seen at least one DVD over the same period," Mr. Hammond said.

Respondents also stated that they enjoyed the social aspect of watching movies at home with friends and family - over half simply enjoying the comfort of their own lounge over the lure of a darkened theatre. 

Another driving force behind DVD rentals is the programming on offer from free-to-air television networks with one in four respondents claiming that there was nothing on TV worth watching.

It would be interesting to see these numbers include Blu-ray sales/ rentals as well as online video downloads in order to garner a more realistic overview of the state of cinema in Australia.  From the limited information on offer in this report, it seems like we are batting down the hatches and preparing to ride out the economic storm. However, a report by Quickflix claiming DVD rentals are strong is hard to take without at least a tiny grain of salt.