The Internet will account for 57% of movie consumption this year, surpassing DVD and Blu-ray discs for the first time, according to a new report. But streaming and downloads will still only make up 12% of movie spending.

IHS Screen Digest says 3.4 billion movies will be streamed or bought online this year, up 135% from last year, but home entertainment revenues will still drop thanks to low-cost streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus.

Those services are much more popular than digital movie sales, accounting for 94% of online movie consumption in 2011, versus only 1.3% for movie downloads from stores like iTunes.

With streaming gaining popularity and revenue trending downward, studios may get increasingly aggressive with practices like keeping new releases away from Netflix for months after they're available to buy and rent.

[latimes]