From the archives: Survey says Americans love their VCRs

By Quirk's Staff | March 13, 2023

Reading time: 2 minutes

Abstract

Remember when VCRs were all the rage? Or how in 1995 only 43% of middle-class Americans reported using a personal computer in the past year? Each month, join Quirk's in taking a look back at historic survey data to see how much consumers have - or haven't - changed!

Research Topics:: Consumer Research
Industry/Market Focus:: Consumers | Entertainment
Content Type: E-Newsletter Article

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Remember VHS rental memberships?

Americans love their VCRs | Survey Monitor, April 1997

According to Maritz AmeriPoll, 89% of Americans own a VCR, while 44% own two or more. Whether or not they own a VCR, 69% of Americans rent or watch a video for their own personal entertainment at least once per month. In fact, 37% of Americans say they rent or watch weekly. People aged 18-34 are far more likely to rent or watch videos on a weekly basis than those aged 35 and up (56% to 28%).

On average, Americans rent two videos at a time. Twenty-eight percent say they only rent one video, 47% say they rent two, and 24% claim to rent more than two each time they visit the video store.

And how about those video rental memberships? Eighty percent of Americans belong to at least one video rental store. In this group, 48% belong to one, 30% belong to two, and 22% belong to three or more video rental stores.

Moreover, Americans seem to prefer renting from big-name video franchises over grocery stores or other sources. Forty-three% say they are most likely to get the videos they watch on a VCR from a franchise, 32% would rather frequent an independent supplier, 16% are most likely to rent from grocery or convenience store video departments, and 9% get their videos from other sources.

Results are based on telephone interviews with American adults. Accuracy of the results is within +/-3.09%.

PC Nation

Lifestyle trends | Survey Monitor, May 1996

Forty-three percent of middle-class Americans have used a personal computer in the past year. Personal computers aren't just for people on the fast track. As they've become more familiar with computers, Americans have begun to use them for a wider range of tasks.

The trend was described in a special 10-year anniversary edition of The Public Pulse, the firm's monthly report on "what Americans are thinking, doing and buying."