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There's only one blockbuster video rental store left in the entire world.

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But somehow, those Redbox kiosks still seem to be outside of every shopping center in

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the US. In fact, they have around 40,000 of them, which is about triple the number of McDonald's

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locations in America. So how is Redbox still such a common site in the world that's now dominated by streaming?

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Well, although streaming services typically offer lots of content for a pretty low monthly

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fee, there's still a pretty big gap in the market. Lots of the movies on streaming services, particularly recent releases, are only available

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for an additional one-time rental fee that can run up to around $6.

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By contrast, Redbox still rents DVDs and Blu-rays for just $2 a pop.

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And if you're out shopping anyways, it doesn't even cost additional gas money to make a special

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trip to rent a movie, as Redbox focuses its business in places where folks are already

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concerned with cutting costs are likely to shop, stores like Walmart and other discounters.

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Even people who pass through the areas would rather just rent a $2 film from Redbox once

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or twice a month instead of spending $15 in the same time period on a streaming subscription,

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especially as streaming is becoming more fragmented, often requiring TV and movie fans to subscribe

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to several of the services to access all the content they want.

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Those monthly fees can add up quickly. Redbox is most popular in smaller metropolitan and rural areas that have relatively lower

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costs of living, places that are more likely to have people on the hunt for a good deal,

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as well as less likely to have access to broadband for streaming.

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Combine this with how Redbox often has movies a customer might not be able to access on

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their streaming service, and suddenly their business model kind of makes sense.

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And the fact that a vending machine is a heck of a lot cheaper than running to a brick and mortar store definitely doesn't hurt.

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So even though Redbox has carved out a niche for itself with physical disc rentals, they've

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still been facing declining revenues for the past few years.

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Even with the advantages their kiosks offer, the part of Redbox's customer base that is

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stuck with DVDs and Blu-rays because their late adopters of the new tech have started

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to gravitate more towards streaming, with ever-increasing broadband speeds helping to

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push more people away from discs. So while Redbox isn't planning to just abandon its kiosks in the immediate future, it's

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also dipped its toes into the streaming wars. They have an app for most platforms like your phone, smart TV, or streaming stick that offer

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free live streaming services of ad-supported movies and episodes, kind of like Pluto or

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Tubi. Redbox also has individual rentals like on Prime Video or iTunes, though they're more

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expensive than renting their DVDs, even for the same movie, meaning you're paying for

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that kind of convenience of not having to go to the kiosk, kind of like how a hotel

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minibar works. But is this going to be enough to compete with other services where streaming is their

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bread and butter instead of a more recent add-on?

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Redbox's plan seems to be to try and create partnerships with multiple studios and content

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distributors to make its app kind of a one-platform-for-everything type of solution, instead of having to go to six different

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apps to watch all of your content. Combined with a loyalty program and original content, Redbox hopes they'll be able to differentiate

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themselves from other competitors in the crowded streaming market.

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Only time will tell if they're able to pull it off, but until they figure it out, you can still dust off your old DVD player and slide in a freshly rented disc.

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There's just something comforting about it, especially when it doesn't work because it's

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all scratched. So thanks for watching. If you liked this video, hit that like button.

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Bye.