Netflix Has 75,000 DVD Titles

Netflix quietly updated the number of DVD titles to 75,000 (as announced in early February by Netflix COO Ted Sarandos). A quick check of the Blockbuster website shows that they offer 65,000 titles.

Thanks to "H" for sending this in.

Comments

[Hunter McDaniel]

I think we've reached the point where sheer number of titles is not that useful a metric; I'm not likely to see 10% of what they have now if I live to be 100. What I really want to know is how much of the video universe they cover.

My ideal metric would be computed something like this:
a) find the one million most popular titles in IMDB
b) weight each title by log(number of votes)
c) multiply the weight by one if the title can actually be rented, not just has an entry in the catalog. multiply by zero otherwise.
d) sum the results.
e) divide by the sum(weights) for all million movies.

[type-cast]

IMDB only has about 500,000 total movies and TV shows. They count each movie, show, and episode as a separate title. There might be hundreds of episodes of a series, so that's not really an accurate way to count.

http://www.imdb.com/database_statistics

Netflix counts each DVD as a title, so they are very inflated. The number of movies and show seasons is only about 26,200 according to Google. 75,000 discs is not a lot, when you consider all the bonus discs and series titles they carry.

Google Search string:
site:netflix.com "movie list" "get info"

[type-cast]

Netflix includes unreleased and out of print titles, that you can Save. Why include them, if we can't rent them? Adding them to a Save queue has no immediate value. They could add "titles" just by adding more movies to Save. That alone discredits their numbers totally.

[sam]

does the 75,000 number really include titles that are not available on disc? If so, that seems fairly duplicitous. Source for your info please? And, does anybody have similar info for blockbuster? I assume they include bonus discs in their count as well.

[superfunhappy]

"Why include them, if we can't rent them?"

Because when they become available they are automatically in your Queue.

BTW, pretty sure BB counts titles the same way so getting bent out of shape over this really reveals your Blockbuster fanboyness. Or do you have insight as to how BB counts titles?

[Ricklogic]

So if BB and NFLX mislead in the same way, then you're cool with that? Knowing the true details doesn't matter?

[sam]

"Because when they become available they are automatically in your Queue"

if they are counting titles with announced upcoming release dates, that seems OK. if it is titles that have an unknown release status, or are out of print, then they should definitely *not* be included. I don't care if it's BB, NFLX, or any other company.