Media can be consumed from your phone, television, and even billboards. Over the years, the way we consume media has changed. People have gone from sitting on their couch on Thursday nights watching “Friends” to pulling out their phones on an airplane to watch “Friends.”
Every year, more Americans are cutting the cord and are only watching their shows and movies exclusively on streaming platforms. According to David Naffis of Adwave, 80.7 million American households are projected to have no traditional cable by the end of 2026. That is a huge shift compared to 10 years ago when 100 million households paid for cable, according to David Dayen of The American Prospect.
As streaming grew, they offered consumers convivence that physical media could not keep up. Instead of purchasing and storing DVDs, consumers can go to a streaming platform like Netflix and access their entire library in one place.
“When streamers were first coming out, they ramped as much product as possible,” Bruce Levinson, a lecturer in Texas State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication said.
Streaming has many benefits that traditional physical media can’t offer. It can stream movies and shows like “The Office” on Peacock and “Friends” on HBO Max. A viewer doesn’t need to take out a disc and put it in a player. They can simply press play on their remote and go to any season or episode they’d like.
Streaming and buying movies digitally does have disadvantages. A user on X by the name TolkienWorldG, purchased the Lord of the Rings extended trilogy back in 2022. In 2026, Google told them that it is no longer in their catalog and they can’t get a refund since he purchased the trilogy in 2022.
“It costs money to store stuff in the cloud; they have to limit the number of streams because they have to pay per stream to the studios for the product that they access,” Levinson said.
Physical media isn’t as accessible as it once was. A 4K movie can cost around $26, while a 4K Blu-ray player can cost around $300, and an OLED television can cost more than $1,000.
Reilley Davis, an elementary school teacher, watches all her shows and movies on streaming rather than on physical media.
“I don’t own a DVD player; I can’t afford a DVD player right now. So, streaming it is,” Davis said.
That hasn’t stopped people from buying physical movies and television shows. Websites like Gruv.com, Amazon, along with physical stores like Waterloo Records have been staples of the physical media world. These online retailers and stores are still getting new products every week, and some pre-orders on Gruv sell out as soon as become available, but physical media is largely a dying business.
According to Variety, DVD sales have declined 94% since 2008. The decline has coincided with Netflix and other streaming platforms. Companies may slowly stop selling physical media, but some people won’t stop buying physical media until the bell rings.
Robert Sinclair, a creative director in advertising and design, watches most of his movies on disc. He has collected over 3,000 4k and Blu-ray discs.
“There will always be hardcore contingent of consumers like me,” Sinclair said.
Movie theaters, on the other hand, have had a resurgence. Showing that audiences have not completely moved away from it. Movies like “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” have shattered box office records. AMC movie theaters had the highest weekend revenue in the company’s 106-year history. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” released in theaters July 31, 2026, and is now the third highest grossing movie of all time (unadjusted for inflation), according to Deadline.
During Covid, movie theaters were shut down around the world. Movies had to either wait to be released or go straight to streaming. “Unhinged,” starring Russell Crowe, was the first movie to be in theaters after Covid. The movie made $44 million at the box office and not long after “Tenet,” directed by Christopher Nolan, made $376.6 million. That may seem like a lot, but they only had minimal box-office return compared to “Top Gun: Maverick”, which made over $1.5 billion at the box office. “Top Gun: Maverick” has been cited as the movie that saved movie theaters, according to Will Jones of CBR.
“It sort of helped people remember how great it is to go to the movies,” Levinson said about “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Netflix is also testing the waters with its new releases. According to Matt Donnely of Variety, Netflix will be testing its six upcoming releases like “The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth” and will release their box office numbers. Companies like Netflix, putting its films in theaters and some physical media selling out as soon as they are available to pre-order. It seems like a step that movie theaters and physical media could have a comeback.
The shift away from physical media isn’t limited to movies and television shows. The video game industry is undergoing a similar effect, where companies are slowly moving over to digital downloads over physical media.
According to the PlayStation website, physical disc production will be ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles. This decision could have a big effect on secondhand games, like the ones you would find at GameStop for a significantly cheaper price. As more games become digital only, players will have fewer opportunities to buy physical copies.
Games like “Friday the 13th” have been removed from PlayStation and Xbox online stores, leaving only secondhand physical copies available.
The way people view media like movies, television and video games has changed over the years, from Laserdisc to streaming, cassette tapes to Spotify, cartridges to digital downloads.
The way that people will view media will continue to change. People may be watching their shows in ways that may seem out of reach by today’s standards. But for now, physical media is still here. It’s on the shelves at Waterloo Records or pre-ordering a movie just before it sells out. The future of media may become digital, but physical media isn’t gone yet.
