A system and method for rewarding consumers who conduct purchasing transactions of content from a content provider via the Internet. A user first subscribes and sets up a user account with a content provider. Once an account is set up, a user is then enabled to conduct a purchase or on-demand streaming download of content from the content provider to a user's playback device via a network connection, e.g., Internet, and a history of user purchases of various content is stored. The reward for a transaction is based the content and particularly, on criteria including: 1) amount of time and manner in which said content has been available; and 2) a user's intended use of the content.