cyljaym yelinah chesney
Verbena Reynoso
Redbox Automated Retail, LLC is an American video on-demand streaming and video rental company that specialized in DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD rentals and purchases and formerly video games via automated retail kiosks and TVOD, AVOD, and FAST services via its website, Android and iOS apps, and many consumer electronic devices. Redbox kiosks featured the company's signature red color and are located at convenience stores, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, mass retailers, and pharmacies.
As of the end of November 2012, Redbox had over 42,000 kiosks at more than 34,000 locations.[2] As of September 2016, Redbox had 51.8% market share of the physical rental market.[3] In 2022, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment acquired Redbox for $375 million.[4] Following the bankruptcy and eventual liquidation of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in 2024, the 26,000 Redbox kiosks will shut down permanently.
The company also employed a "return anywhere" policy, different from competitors, which allowed consumers to return their rental to any Redbox kiosk, not just the one from which they originally rented it.[6] Kiosks rented both films and video games.[7]
In 2005, Coinstar bought 47% of the company for $32 million,[8] after unsuccessful attempts to sell half the company to Blockbuster and Netflix.[9] In early 2008, Coinstar exercised an option to increase its share from 47% to 51%.[8] In February 2009, Coinstar paid McDonald's between $169 and $176 million for the remainder of the company.[10] While traditional brick and mortar rental stores were closing at a high rate, Redbox moved into existing retail locations such as supermarkets, and placed kiosks within them or outside of them to gain access to that consumer base.[11]
The company surpassed Blockbuster in 2007 in the number of US locations,[12] passed 100 million rentals in February 2008,[13] and passed 1 billion rentals in September 2010.[14] Current and former competitors include Netflix, Blockbuster, Movie Gallery and its subsidiary Hollywood Video, West Coast Video and Family Video along with other DVD by mail rental services. In Q2 2011, kiosks accounted for 36% of the disc rental market, with 38% of that attributable to rent-by-mail services and 25% to traditional stores, according to the NPD Group. As of Q2 2011, 68% of the US population lived within a five-minute drive of a Redbox kiosk.[15] The numbers for Q2 2013 shows that Redbox rentals had surpassed 50% of the total disc rentals in the country.[16]
Mitch Lowe joined Redbox in 2003 after spending five years as an executive at Netflix. At Redbox, he started first as a consultant and then as VP of Purchasing & Operations. In 2005, he became the Chief Operating Officer.[17] Lowe owned and operated a video rental company named Video Droid from 1982 through 1997. Video Droid attempted a VHS rental vending machine concept, though the idea was quickly deemed impractical.[18] Lowe was named President of Redbox in April 2009.
In July 2010, Redbox announced that they were beginning to rent Blu-ray movies at 13,000 kiosks nationwide, and Blu-ray Discs were available across the Redbox network by the fall of 2010.[34] In October 2010, the company began testing video game rentals in Reno, Nevada; Orlando, Florida; Stevens Point, Wisconsin; Austin, Texas; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Corvallis, Oregon. In June 2011, Redbox launched video game rentals nationwide.[35] Games for all major platforms are offered, including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch at select locations. In 2019, Redbox confirmed video game rentals would be discontinued.
In February 2012, Redbox announced the purchase of former competitor Blockbuster Express from NCR for $100 million.[36] The acquisition included over 10,000 DVD kiosks, certain retailer contracts, and DVD inventory. As part of the agreement, Redbox entered a supplier arrangement of purchasing product and services from NCR.[37] On June 27, 2012, Redbox completed the purchase of Blockbuster Express on June 23.[38] The company sold some Blockbuster Express kiosks in less competitive markets to third party providers in June 2013.[39]
The company partnered with New Era Tickets and Sparkart to launch Redbox Tickets in October 2012 as a test on existing kiosks in the greater Philadelphia area followed by an early 2013 expansion in Los Angeles.[42] Redbox also rolled out its Rubi coffee kiosk featuring Seattle's Best Coffee in 2012 at up to 500 locations.[43] Outerwall, formerly Coinstar, decided to close its Rubi business in December 2013[44] then sold that business in 2014 to Feniks, a Seattle start up food tech company.[45]
In August 2012, Redbox's founder, Gregg Kaplan, exited as president and COO of Redbox. Anne Saunders became the new president of Redbox.[46] In July 2013, Redbox announced its 3 billionth rental of a disc, counting both movies and games.[47]
The number of items rented from kiosks annually peaked in 2013, with 772.87 million rentals. There were then 717.13 million units rented in 2014, and 587.55 million in 2015,[48] the decline due to the increasing consumer shift from physical media to streaming and other online services. That year the company also moved its 1,400 kiosks in Canada to other locations in the United States.[49] As of 2014, Redbox still represented half of the physical media rental market.[50] As of July 2016, Redbox offered Xbox One and PlayStation 4 games.[51]
Throughout most of 2016, parent company Outerwall was seeking a buyer based on shareholder input. In early September, Outerwall was sold to Apollo Global Management and its three units (Coinstar, ecoATM and Redbox) were split into separate operating companies. In late September 2016, Outerwall CFO Galen Smith was announced as the new CEO of Redbox.[52] The company had approximately 40,000 kiosks in the United States as of January 2017. The kiosks are shifting around the country to different locations in order to track consumer trends and in reaction to under-performing neighborhoods.[53] Most locations only have one kiosk, however in some cases there will be more to deal with high traffic locales.[54]
On December 13, 2017, Redbox offered a new video streaming service called Redbox On Demand.[56] The percentage of consumers renting or purchasing movies from Redbox rose in the fourth quarter of 2017 from the third quarter, according to a TiVo survey.[57]
Redbox acquired the independent film Benjamin for a 90-day release period via its kiosks and on demand service on April 23, 2019, as a Redbox Original.[58] In October 2019 Redbox formed its film and TV series production division, Redbox Entertainment, with Marc Danon as senior advisor of content acquisition.[59]
Redbox announced on December 9, 2019, that it would no longer be renting video games but will continue selling used video game copies through the end of the year.[60] Redbox Free Live TV was soft launched in early February 2020 with a nationwide launch on February 18.[61]
On May 17, 2021, Redbox announced that it reached a definitive agreement to merge with Seaport Global Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company. This would result in Redbox being publicly listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker RDBX.[63] The company officially went public on October 25, 2021.[64]
In July 2023, Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment announced a partnership with the video sharing platform TikTok, under which screens showcasing top content from the service will be installed on at least 3,000 Redbox kiosks. These ads will also display advertising sold by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment's sales platform Crackle Connex.[68]
On April 23, 2024, Chicken Soup for the Soul announced a $636.6 million loss in 2023, and warned that without any options to generate additional financing, the company may be forced to liquidate or pause operations, and seek a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing. However, Chicken Soup for the Soul did also report that Redbox's sales increased last year, seeing a 66% increase in annual revenue to $112.7 million.[69] By June 15, all Redbox kiosks in Hannaford grocery stores had been shut down.[70] On June 29, 2024, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after missing a week of paying its employees and failing to secure financing.[71]
On July 10, 2024, a bankruptcy judge ordered to convert Chicken Soup for the Soul's Chapter 11 bankruptcy into a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation after accusing the company's previous CEO of misusing the business and failing to pay employees or support healthcare. With the Chapter 7 conversion, the company's assets will be liquidated, resulting in the cessation of its subsidiaries, including Redbox. In addition, over 1,000 employees will be laid off and over 26,000 Redbox kiosks will shut down permanently.[72]
Redbox Free Live TV is an ad supported channel based video on demand service. The service was soft launched in early February 2020 with a nationwide launch on February 18. Nearly 30 channels were offered then - three self-branded channels: Redbox Rush (action and adventure), Redbox Comedy and Redbox Spotlight, featured and recommended titles. The service's launch content partner was Lionsgate. Other content suppliers include America's Funniest Home Videos, Cinedigm, Comedy Dynamics, Fremantle, FilmRise, Gravitas, Jukin Media, Kabillion, Maverick Movies, People Are Awesome, TMZ, and USA Today.[61]
Redbox began internally testing a video streaming service, dubbed Redbox Instant, in July 2012. The service was a joint effort between Redbox and Verizon.[73] On March 14, 2013, Redbox Instant by Verizon officially went public, offering customers a free 1-month trial of an $8/month unlimited streaming service that includes 4 disc rentals from kiosks ($1 more for Blu-ray).[74] The service launched with 4,600 titles from movie companies such as Epix, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Relativity, and Sony Pictures. According to early reports, Redbox Instant also planned to allow users to download content to mobile devices for offline viewing; titles could be either rented or purchased, in SD or HD quality, with rental customers having 30 days to begin viewing their title and 48 hours of unlimited views thereafter.[75]
90f70e40cf