Looking at all pricing data from a selection of large US transactional stores, Ampere has been conducting research into how price decline varies with content age. We would typically expect that, on average, the more recently a title was released, the more expensive it will be - and this does hold, but less than one might think. In the case of renting, titles settle onto a relatively constant price within five years of initial release, with the price stabilising for library content.

In the case of purchasing buying to keep, however, titles typically undergo a fall in price over the first 20 years following release, after which the price rises, settling onto a relatively constant price some 30 years after initial release. While this may seem counter-intuitive, it makes sense in the context of more niche, older content. If the cost of hosting content is minimal, and the content has reached an age at which the audience is likely to be very small, there's little value in offering discounts to try to tempt consumers.

This general trend of falling transaction price with age is observed in the case of titles released by many of the major parent distributors, as shown by a selection. It is, however, noticeable that certain studios are employing different pricing strategies, and Lionsgate titles in particular stand out as being priced at approximately two thirds of the price of those from other major studios. This is solely due to EST purchase price - prices for rental are consistent with other studios' averages - and are consistent across all major VoD platforms studied.