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Digital distribution up this quarter, everything else, not so much
The Digital Entertainment Group posted its third quarter numbers and digital distribution was up 23 percent, and accounted for an all time high of 13.5 percent of consumer spending on home media. The rise in digital distribution wasn't enough to hold the rest of the home media market flat though as it continued its 2010 slide by 8 percent in the first three quarters of the year -- which is something considering the first six months were only off 3.3 percent. Even with the third quarter decline, Blu-ray is still up 80 percent on the year when compared to the same period in 2009, which amounts to a cool billion in total. This dwarfs electronic sellthrough (mostly iTunes) at $432 million, which is a 37 percent increase over the first nine months of 2009. This was enough to keep DEG's pres' Ron Sander optimistic stating "While we continue to encounter tough market conditions, there are a number of positive trends emerging, particularly in some of the industry's key growth areas ... Blu-ray continues to show strong growth in every category, new release packaged media sellthrough is up, and digital distribution is gaining significant momentum as we move into the fourth quarter." Making less than last year is never fun, but all things considered, it's hard to complain about only making $6.5 billion (that's with a B).
Blu-ray and Digital delivery up, but overall home media is down
For most 2009 was a bad year for business, but the first quarter of 2010 was still worse for the home media market by 8 percent according to the Digital Entertainment Group. Obviously the home media market is highly dependent on the movies released in the theater a few months before, but the studios still hoped that Blu-ray and digital delivery could at least keep things flat. The good news is that Blu-ray movie sales in the 1st quarter were up 74 percent compared to the same time frame last year and rentals were up 36 percent, while at the same time Blu-ray player sales were up 125 percent and digital delivery was up 27 percent to $617 million. While the first quarter wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things, all eyes will be on the second, because if you can't have a red letter month when Avatar is released, can you ever? Show full PR text HOME ENTERTAINMENT HAS PROMISING FIRST QUARTER FUELED BY BLU-RAY SALES Blu-ray Disc Software Sales Up 74 Percent Blu-ray Disc Set-Top Sales Up 125 Percent Digital Distribution Up 27 Percent LOS ANGELES (April 15, 2010) – Blu-ray Disc software sales continued to rise in the first quarter of 2010, up 74 percent compared to the same period last year. Consumer spending for the first quarter in the home entertainment window for pre-recorded entertainment, which includes DVD, Blu-ray Disc and digital distribution, was $4.8 billion, down eight percent compared to the same period last year. These and other U.S. sales figures for the home entertainment industry were released today by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group. According to the DEG, with input from all major motion picture studios, Blu-ray Disc software continued to see significant growth in the first quarter with sell-through up 74 percent and rental up 36 percent, compared to the same period last year. Total rental was down 14 percent in the first quarter, largely as a result of brick and mortar store closures, according to Rentrak Corporation's Home Video Essentials. The DEG also announced that Blu-ray Disc hardware sales experienced remarkable growth, with set-tops up an astounding 125 percent versus first quarter 2009. Additionally, digital distribution, which includes electronic sell-through (EST) and video-on-demand (VOD), grew a combined 27 percent to $617 million in the first quarter compared to the same period last year. While the industry faced tough comparisons to the first quarter of 2009, the home entertainment category performed extremely well in March 2010 compared to March 2009, with consumer spending on home entertainment up two percent for the month, consumer spending on sell-through up four percent, consumer spending on digital up 35 percent, and Blu-ray Disc software sales up a staggering 124 percent. The DEG also noted that the Easter holiday often sees a spike in gift buying, which helped to fuel March sales. "We are still facing a challenging environment but are very pleased to see positive indicators of stabilization in our overall business," said Ron Sanders, President, DEG and President, Warner Home Video. "We are encouraged to see consumers continue to realize the tremendous value of Blu-ray and growing more comfortable with digital delivery." The DEG compiles quarterly sales data for various products within the home entertainment category, including Blu-ray Disc, DVD and HDTV. The industry association compiles its data based on input from member companies, retailers and industry association tracking sources. Consumer spending for sell-through packaged goods exceeded $2.5 billion for the quarter, while packaged goods sales in the first quarter were off 11 percent, according to industry data. During this period last year, national retailer Circuit City was undergoing its chain-wide liquidation which included releasing unexpected quantities of DVD and Blu-ray Disc titles in the market. According to the Nielsen Company, the impact of Circuit City's liquidation significantly affected comparisons to sales for first quarter of 2010. -more- DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group␣9229 Sunset Blvd., Suite 405, Los Angeles, CA 90069␣310-888-2201␣www.degonline.org DEG 1Q 2010 2-2-2 BLU-RAY DISC SEES SIGNIFICANT GROWTH While sales of Blu-ray Discs topped 74 percent, some 34 million Blu-ray Discs shipped to retail, according to figures compiled by Swicker & Associates on behalf of the DEG. This is growth of 72 percent over the same period last year. Household penetration of all Blu-ray Disc compatible devices, including set-top players, PC drives and PlayStation 3 consoles has now reached 18 million U.S. homes. HDTV SALES EXPERIENCE MORE GROWTH According to figures compiled by the DEG based on data from CEA, retailers and manufacturers some 75 million HDTVs have sold to consumers. With some 4.7 million HDTVs selling in the first quarter, U.S. household penetration is at approximately 50 million. Nearly 34 percent of all HDTV owners have more than one set. DVD PLAYER SALES REACH 94 MILLION According to figures compiled by the DEG based on data from CEA, retailers and manufacturers, more than 94 million DVD players sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2010. Since launch in spring 1997, some 280 million DVD players, including set-top and portable DVD players, Home-Theater-in-a-Box systems, TV/DVD and DVD/VCR combination players, have sold to consumers, bringing the number of DVD households to approximately 91 million (adjusting for households with more than one player). The DEG estimates that some 67 percent of DVD owners have more than one player.
1st quarter Blu-ray sales up 68 percent over last year
These updates are getting rather boring now that Blu-ray has a well established foothold in the packaged media business, but it's still interesting to note that for the 1st quarter of 2010, sales were up 68.5 percent over the same quarter last year. Overall packaged media was up 3.1 percent, which isn't saying that much since overall sales were hit pretty hard last year. We're not good enough at calculating percentages to determine if it was our favorite HD format that made up the difference, but Blu-ray did account for 12.3 percent of packaged media in the same time frame, versus 7 percent in 2009. Ultimately we aren't really that interested in the business side of it, but we know the studios are so if they are happy, then that means we will continue to be able to enjoy Blu-ray discs at home.
Blu-ray sales were up 67 percent in 2009
No matter what the benchmark, when you increase the number of households with a Blu-ray player up 76 percent, to 17 million, that's a good year. So what if it is was one of the worst economic times in US history, and that overall home media sales were down 13.7 percent -- not even Blu-ray could fend off that big of a loss in DVD buying -- that is the type of growth that any new technology would strive for in its 3rd full year. We'd just love to hear anyone try and say Blu-ray was fighting for survival with $1.5 billion in revenue in one year, especially when Adams Research estimates the digital download market was only worth $360 million during the same time. Now we're not ones to say that physical discs will ever be what they used to be -- that captive audience is gone after all -- but as fans of the format, we can't help but feel like our ability to enjoy the best quality at home isn't in danger. Especially when during the five week holiday shopping season, Blu-ray player sales were up 44 percent while the overall consumer spending was down by 1 percent.
Avatar guaranteed to be on Blu-ray before June 1st 2010?
Anyone who prefers their home theater to the big screen knows that the days of long release windows are a thing of the past -- and until Hollywood figures out that delaying movies doesn't encourage us to go to the theater, release windows are here to stay -- but apparently the Media Wonk isn't that big of a fan of home media. Because if he was he wouldn't say that France's three strikes law is biting Fox where it hurts. Apparently the law requires Avatar to be released by June 1st 2010, which Paul argues isn't what Fox would do willing. Well we went back and search IMDB for every big blockbuster in the past 5 years, and aside from a few holiday movies -- doesn't make sense to release A Christmas Carol in July in any format -- we couldn't find any titles that weren't out on disc within six months of the theatrical release. But just to make sure, we asked Chris Tribly of Home Media Magazine what he thought and he quickly hit us back with "there's no way Fox will wait 12 months on Avatar. Too many piracy concerns. What you'll likely see is an April release with a special edition re-release for the holidays." We have to admit this is pretty much what we were thinking too and with the Oscars on March 7th this year, we wouldn't be one bit surprised to see it hit Blu-ray just in time to blanket the box with all the Oscars it's sure to win -- to go along with the Golden Globes it won for Best Picture and Best Director.
Redbox sues Warner and Fox for retailer interference
Even though only a few Redbox kiosks actually offer Blu-ray Discs for rent, we still find the company's trials and tribulations with the studios entertaining and newsy. In this latest complaint, Redbox claims that Warner and Fox have instructed retailers to only allow Redbox kiosk operators to buy three copies of any given title, thereby preventing Redbox from renting movies day and date with the disc's retail release. Besides the obvious fact that the studios are being jerks here, it really gets our legal thoughts running about one's right to buy as many of something as one wants. Now we're pretty sure all this is just a way for Redbox to gain leverage in inevitable kick-back negotiations, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining or interesting.
Survey says 13 percent have never heard of Hi-Def
Surveys are really like a bad reality show or a train wreak, we just can't help but read them and this latest one from Frank N. Magid Associates is really something. Beyond the usual suspects, like only 63 percent of HD owners believing they are watching HD, is the fact that 13 percent of the respondents said they'd never heard of Hi-Def. We'd just love to hear how this question was phrased, because even the most introvert technophobes that we know have heard of HD. In fact we just can't think of a scenario where someone who lives on the grid wouldn't know what HD is.
ZillionTV signs the final remaining major studio
A good idea is worthless without adoption and we're glad to hear that ZillionTV has signed Paramount, which means that all six major studios are on board. Of course we still don't know how much we're actually going to like ZillionTV because although streaming content for free or ad-supported sounds like a new approach, who knows how it'll work. We do think we'd love the choice of either watching ads or paying if that is what's actually going to happen. According to HMM, at least in regards to Paramount, some content will be available for rent or purchase while other content will be ad-supported. If this is going to be the case for all the content, then we're sure the ZillionTV will look great in our attic sitting next to our Moviebeam.
Hollywood still doesn't understand why people pirate content
We believe that the only way to really understand what is going on is to listen to both sides and this one of the reason why we like Home Media Magazine. We feel like it gives us an inside perspective into the minds of the Home Media market, and thus Hollywood. This recent post on said site by Erik Gruenwedel really exposes how Hollywood still doesn't understand piracy. While we recognize that some people will steal just for the sake of it, we really believe that most prefer the legit route -- when given a choice. But the tech savvy looking to move forward with how they consume content really don't have many options right now. With the CableCARD HTPC fiasco and the prices plus restrictions that go along with services like iTunes and Xbox Live Marketplace, what else is a geek to do? For a brief moment there with offerings like Hulu, It almost seemed like Hollywood was coming along , but then recently their true colors were revealed once again. The real problem of course is that while consumers look at technology a way to improve the way they consume content, Hollywood sees it as a threat, and even worse, as just a way to increase revenues and control over the content. And as far as downloading movies goes, can you say release window?
HD-3 conference eliminates "Blu-ray in trouble" rumor gremlins -- by pouring water on them
Panelists at Home Media Magazine's third annual high definition conference found plenty in Blu-ray to be positive about, according to the magazine's own report, so they may be somewhat surprised to see co-sponsor Hollywood Reporter's less optimistic "Economy grinch may pinch Blu-ray" headline as the most syndicated report we found this A.M. Not exactly another Blu-ray is dead exaggeration, but not exactly how the industry wants to represent itself coming into a very important holiday season. With Blu-ray player prices diving, a slew of blockbuster titles on the way and shelf space expanding, the perception of Blu-ray as a niche format should be dwindling, but Home Media Mag publisher Thomas Arnold blames analysts and reporters who "don't understand our business" for putting Blu-ray in their crosshairs. At least per our poll, 55% of you are continuing as normal or increasing purchases, at least for some, there's just no substituting for quality.Read - Economy grinch may pinch Blu-rayRead - At HD-3, Myths Dispelled About Blu-ray Disc
Band of Brothers coming to Blu-ray this year
Everyone's got their own most-anticipated DVD that has yet to make the jump to HD, if Band of Brothers is yours, the wait just got a little shorter. According to The Man Room, the latest issue of Home Media Magazine loosed from an HBO VP the detail that Band of Brothers, #6 top selling DVD of all time, will make an appearance on Blu-ray before the end of the year. While waiting for the boys of Easy Company, we'll just play Call of Duty a few more (thousand) times.
NPD clarifies Blu-ray's market share the week after Warner went Blu
Some were very quick to crown Blu-ray the winner when we learned that the Blu-ray player owned 93 percent of the HD movie market the week after Warner went Blu. Evidently the numbers were leaked and the NPD group was quick to respond in an attempt to clear things up. As expected, some were just as quick to discount the Blu-ray success -- which is just as silly as saying the numbers alone mean Blu-ray has won. Two things happened that week that we're not so sure could continue forever; HD DVD sales were down, and Blu-ray sales were up. With some help from a few promotions (free player with a new TV) -- stand-alone Blu-ray player sales were up 30 percent (22k, up from 15k) -- but this alone wasn't enough to shift HD DVD share from 40 percent down to 7. HD DVD only sold 1,758 stand-alone players during the same week, compared to 14,558 the week before. So while Blu-ray was up 30, HD DVD was down 88 percent. So it isn't that the Blu-ray sales were all that spectacular, but instead it was that HD DVD sales were way down. At this point it doesn't mean anything, but if it continues for more than a month then that's whole 'nother story entirely.[Thanks, To everyone who sent this in]
Poll: How many HD movies have you bought?
In the latest Home Media Magazine, there's an article about the current status of the HD movie market. The most interesting thing, was that they reported that HD movie player sales are actually out pacing DVD in it's first year, but no one is buying movies. In DVD's first year, the average early adopter bought 8.9 titles, compared to either HD DVD or Blu-ray stand-alone owners with a average of 3.6, while PS3 owners have only bought one title. So we want to know, how many movies have you bought? (Don't count freebies and don't vote at all if you don't own a player) %Poll-6980% Read - Home Media Magazine (page 40)
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 28th, 2007
Transformers stays on top again in this week's installment of the Nielsen VideoScan report courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Disney's Meet the Robinsons and Fox's Mr. Brooks were no match for it, even on it's second week. This puts the two formats neck and neck at 55/45, for the second week in a row. Of course this will have to go on for longer than that if they want to affect they year to date, which only changed 2% over the past two weeks and is now at 64/36. We can only imagine that Warner is a little disappointed that none of their new movies hit the top ten this week, but they continue to enjoy success with the regulars on the list like 300. At this point the real question is how will Spider-Man 3 fair next week against Transformers in it's third week and what kind of impact will the recent flood of HD DVD players have on the market. Sure, spidy did better in the box office, but sales will be split with the box set. Transformers HD DVD 100.00 Heroes Season 1 HD DVD 47.91 Meet the Robinsons BD 44.88 Mr. Brooks BD 14.41 Hostel Part II BD 13.65 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest BD 13.01 300 HD 12.05 Pirates of the Cari bean Curse of the Black Pearl BD 11.61 300 BD 11.26 Planet Earth HD 11.22
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 21st, 2007
As expected, Transformers is at the top this week on the Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine. What some didn't expect is for Blu-ray to continue to outsell HD DVD overall, despite the fact Blu-ray didn't have any notable titles that week. But wait you ask, didn't Transformers sell more copies than any other movie? Well, that's where it gets interesting, while Paramount claims they sold 190k copies, Nielsen only counted 115k. Some might say that's because they don't count Wal-Mart, and while that could be the case, the Wal-Mart near our house still doesn't carry either format. Judging by the titles in the list and how the list compares to last week's, we'd say that Blu-ray's buy one get one free deal went pretty well and we really can't wait to see what the HD DVD camp is willing to do to offset Spiderman 3 in a few weeks -- but we'd bet no matter what they do, it'll be good for the consumer. Transformers 100 Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest 9.47 Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl 9.12 Fatastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 5.47 Apocalypto 5.02 Deja Vu 3.71 The Prestige 3.60 Wild Hogs 3.53 The Reaping BR 3.42 300 BR 3.37 [Via AVSForum]
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 14th, 2007
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer is once again the top title this week on the Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine. There are a lot of changes in this week's list of top ten titles, as Knocked Up falls to six, from two, and new release Evan Almighty rises to number four. As we'd expect, most of the titles to rise to the top are new releases, but a few regulars for Blu-ray seem to keep up their steam, including 300 and Casino Royale. For the second week in a row, Blu-ray wides its lead (now 2.4:1 for the week), but we all expect that to change next week when the Transformers numbers hit, despite all of Blu-ray's two-for-one promotions. Fantastic Four 100.00 Surf's Up BD 66.99 28 Weeks Later BD 63.66 Evan Almighty HD 45.62 300 BD 37.58 Knocked Up HD 27.03 Reign over Me 24.10 28 Days Later BD 23.13 Casino Royale BD 21.96 Troy DC BD 19.64 [Via AVSForum]
The HD DVD promotions group corrects Home Media Magazine
In last week's Home Media Magazine, there was an article stating that HD DVD would release a total of 800 titles in 2007. As much as HD DVD lovers everywhere would love to have that kind of selection, 240 titles in one month (December according to the article) is just too much for any format -- even the most devout HD DVD fanboy would have a hard time buying this many discs in one month. When questioned, the HD DVD promotions group cleared the confusion up. Basically the number HMM was using was based on yearly totals for each month, not the total releases for that month. The other crazy number from the article was the total number of Blu-ray tiles; which was 43. For those still scratching your head, there have already been more than 43 this year.
