DVD sales plummet
Belly flop
SALES of DVDs have fallen for the first time since the format appeared.
According to USA Today, sales and rentals of DVDs fell by three per cent than 2006. They made the industry just $23.4 billion.
The figures indicate that while punters are still happy to rent DVDs they are less keen on buying them. Rental figures stayed at the same levels as last year.
Filmstudios shipped about 1.7 billion disks in 2007 which was 30 million more than the year before. This means that prices are coming down a bit. The average selling price of a DVD dropped 0.5 per cent to $14.63.
USA Today points out that the the movie download market could be another killer. That industry is expected to double from $689 million in 2006 to $1.6 billion in 2008.
So far the high-definition war has hardly dented the figures. Only one per cent of the home-video market was on the new formats and they really are not worth bothering about.
Another reason for the downturn could be the lack of decent movies. The top DVDs in the year included the terrible Transformers, the simplistically stupid Happy Feet, the tired Pirates of the Caribbean, the implausible 300, the nauseatingly sweet Ratatouille, the disappointing Shrek the Third and the least said about Night at the Museum the better.
More here. µ
Comments
An additional factor to consider
As older titles that are not on DVD are far fewer... perhaps there is also some dropoff as their are fewer and fewer 'old' titles newly released (as most have been released already). The more widespread monthly rental plans via Netflix and Blockbuster may also have some impact on purchases.I also find it amusing as 3% is considered a 'plummet', while HD sales of 1% is insignificant... if 1% is insignificant (and it is), how exactly does 3% constitute plummeting?
Feeling the need to jazz up the title? If a stock fell 3% or your salary or the price of a new car would it be considered 'plummeting'? A little perspective, instead of a drummed up headline would be nice.
I don't know about anyone else...
... but I've run out of DVDs I want to buy. It's taken a few years but just about everything I would want in the Hollywood back catalogue is out on DVD now and I own it. That's why my DVD buying has slowed to a virtual crawl.Of course there's the occasional new DVD release for films that have just done the rounds in the cinema, and new TV-on-DVD box sets but that's not a lot. We even have Bladerunner on DVD finally. With Hollywood running out of old films to release I'm not surprised sales are slowing.
decent movies
There are no decent movies thats why.take a look at the amazon top 100, its a pathetic list of crap movies half filled with new and old TV collection boxes.
Who on earth wants to buy season 1 heroe's collectors box , or Dr house bore me to death , season 2 ?
I have no idea what this industry is doing to itself. I used to buy a couple of dvds every month, but its over a year since I purchased a new dvd, simply because theres nothing worth buying these days.
There ARE good movies
I should know because I download them all the time and make it a point to distribute several burned copies of each.I wonder when Hollywood will take to video games in earnest.
Why buy DVD before HD?
The HD-Format wars have had more of an impact then most people would believe from the stats...Why would people want to buy any new DVDs when they could wait a little and get it on <HD-Format> later. The only problem being: most people are also afraid of purchasing anything on HD Format disks because the other format(s) might win the war rendering their new purchases useless. Because of this people are either turning to renting DVDs or buying from a download service where they can almost guarentee they're purchase will still be playable for the considerable future.
Another reason
I'm sure there are a lot of people with HD screens but no HD players. I wouldn't want to buy a season of my show if the physical, lasting version looks worse than what I just watched on the network.Plummet - Get a Life
If someone is going to plummet off a 100 foot cliff that sounds serious. Falling 3 feet is a minor boo-boo.a little perspective
Joe, I believe the "plummet" comment was meant to be tongue in cheek, but too easily imaginable (in a year or two) to be funny."terrible" Transformers?!!
The article author might not like any of the movies he listed but telling that Transformers is a terrible movie is far from just personal taste, it's negating the simple fact that it's an excellent sci-fi movie, among the best ever made to date. He might not like it but it remains the best movie of 2007 and it's a sci-fi classic with that touch of Spielberg along with Bay's own fast paced action sequences that made it a success.Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is a good movie, not excellent but still fairly watchable.
300 is a very good movie indeed. If that's garbage for you then all similar movies that have been released in the last 4-5 years should be marked as implausible as well--along with every movie based on ancient history and mythology.
I can agree on the other movies he listed, they are not that good nor that expensive.
However, DVDs have been out of stock during the holidays for weeks, many online shops were unable to deliver enough Transformers copies in many countries. Telling that no one is buying DVDs anymore is not true. Blu-Ray discs are selling a lot already, much more than DVDs in the technology early days. At this rate by 2010 80% of movies sold will be Blu-Ray titles.
nonsense
Transformers was indeed Tru-Crap(TM), a perfectly ridiculous film about some cars. Pirates of the Caribean is a used up joke and 300 looked just awful -I mean, naked men with brown nipples?! What were they thinking? Not even my gay friends liked it, in fact, they thought it was disgusting. On the other hand, I just watched the Third Man and couldn't help but think how glorious that would look in HD... -I'll take a copy of that on BluRay please.I dunno
I thought those movies were pretty good.DVDs aren't worth buying when a better format is out.. and no one wants to spend on the better format when it is still expensive for hardware and stuff..
and when even your granny knows about torrents.. i think most don't even want to spend a penny.
Market share
You mentioned in your article that sales of DVDs dropped 3% which was obviously worthy of note however next gen formats accounted for only 1% of sales which was insignificant.I would have thought that it is significant that 33% of the loss of DVD market share was attributed to next gen formats.
As someone else already mentioned this is a much faster uptake than the initial DVD sales and this is despite the current confusion over what the next big format will be. Although it is beginning to look like Blu ray is pushing it's way into a bit of a market lead at the moment.
Did someone call Transformers a 'sci-fi classic'?
Did you just call Transformers the "best movie of 2007 and it's a sci-fi classic"?'Best movie of 2007". Wow.
I'm sorry, you must have seen a version of Transformers that hasn't been directed by Michael Bay.
'Transformers' is about as much of a sci-fi classic as 'The adventures of Pluto Nash'.
HUH!?!?!?!?
Terrible huh? Well I guess you can go back to watching dirty dancing and fried green tomatoes!!!!!!What?
So the main points are;1) Sales and rentals of DVDs fell by three per cent.
2) Rental figures stayed at the same levels.
3) Filmstudios shipped about 1.7 billion disks in 2007 which was 30 million more than the year before.
What?
What a Laugh
I bought more DVDs this year than in all prior years combined. What helped me to buy DVDs was the Walmart prices of $5.00. When looking through the bin there were some of my favorite movies. I couldn't pass them up.No, I am not going to pay $14.99 to 21.99 per DVD and screw the MPAA. I could care less and I don't care if the stars in any given movie make a million less here or there.
The MPAA is abusive and should go the way of the Dodo bird.
Is it just me, or.....
Does Nick seem a tad more caustic today than normal?Transformers blows.
"Transformers is "an excellent sci-fi movie among the best ever made to date.""Pirates of the Caribbean 3 is a good movie"
"300 is a very good movie indeed."
wow... wow... woooooooooooooooow... You just blew my mind!
-manno
Transformers excellent?!?
You have GOT to be kidding. When the author says the movie was terrible, he may be referring to the plot and story-telling. I liked the show as a kid, but the movie was a disappointment. It is proof an action-packed movie can be boring. All flash and no substance, like most current Hollywood action films.300 had a bit more plot, but was more about visual style. Not much substance.
@Karn
Yep, I've stopped buying mainstream movies on DVD for that reason: if they're going to be released in HD format, paying for a DVD movie now would be a waste (this does assume that I eventually get a HD TV and playback equipment).Perhaps the media conglomerates could have maximised their revenues by waiting for DVD sales to fall *before* starting the move to HD. As it is, DVD had barely a decade as the best playback format.
On a side note, I continue to buy off-the-beaten track movies and TV series on DVD as I've no guarantee that these will be released in HD, and most of them won't benefit from the new format (grainy film or low-res videotape) or are unlikely to get the remastering treatment they deserve.
@Why buy DVD before HD
Because I have quite excellent dvd equipment and see no reason to rebuy everything.===
there are a lot of movies and TV shows I would still like to buy on DVD.
===
Transformers and 300 define suck.
So yes, the dreck that Hollywood typically produces sucks.
Drop in DVD sales
The studios are getting hit with several things at once:
1) The USA is in lousy shape economically, and most people buy food before entertainment.
2) A lot of us now have huge libraries - I know we do, including a lot of classic TV shows.
Put those two things together, and you get a drop in sales. Then you compare HD/Blu-Ray to standard DVD, and the difference isn't huge, so why upgrade?
Provide some good content, and people will spend money (assuming they have it). Unfortunately the majority of network TV is total and utter garbage, as are the majority of movies. Less than 10% of what is released is worth watching once, and only a tenth of that is worth re-watching.