Rentrak Launches Online Movie Rankings

To help the studios better track the performance of films on digital platforms, Rentrak has unveiled what it is calling the complete digital Top 10 rankings as part of its Digital Download Essentials Industry tracking service.

The service includes both Internet Video-On-Demand (iVOD) and Electronic Sell Through (EST), for both standard definition and digital HD movie rentals and purchases.

The research company unveiled the first rankings on Sept. 24 at the 2013 Digital Media Pipeline conference that is being held in Los Angeles by the Entertainment Merchants Association.

The rankings showed Lionsgate's Now You See Me in the top spot followed by Disney's Iron Man 3 at number two for the week of Sept. 2 to Sept. 8, 2013.

In a statement, Mark Fisher, president of Entertainment Merchants Association, explained that the launch "underscores the industry's increasing emphasis on digital distribution and the growing acceptance by the consumer of owning and renting digitally delivered movies and TV shows."

"The industry has been seeking a weekly digital movie chart and we are proud to deliver it," added Chris Wilson, president of national television at Rentrak in a statement. "Only Rentrak, with census-based measurement is able to offer the level of detail required by clients."

Rentrak's Top 10 Digitally Purchased and Rented Movies*

(Week of 9/2/13 - 9/8/13)

RankTitleDistributor

1              Now You See Me                                  Lionsgate

2              Iron Man 3                                            Disney

3              Pain & Gain                                          Paramount

4              The Great Gatsby                                Warner Bros.

5              Olympus Has Fallen                             Sony

6              Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)            Paramount

7              Epic                                                      Fox

8              Mud                                                      Lionsgate

9              Empire State (2013)                             Lionsgate

10           G.I. Joe Retaliation (2013)                    Paramount

*Excludes NBC Universal and Independent Studio Content at this time

Source: Rentrak's Digital Download Essentials Industry Service