Nielsen
Latest
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 21st, 2008
Our friends over at Home Media Magazine like to enjoy some time off during the holidays, so once again the Nielsen VideoScan numbers are a little later than we'd like. But late is better than never and the third week of December was pretty good to Blu-ray. Sure it was down over 23 percent from the week The Dark Night was released, but at $46 Million the Blu disc still managed to rake in more revenue then it used to during an entire month not that long ago, and about twice as much as it did the week Iron Man was released. The latest in the Mummy franchise did pretty well its first week out, all things considered, but it was no match for The Dark Knight's sophomore week, which outsold it by over three to one. Mamma Mia was the only other new release that week that manged to even come close, which kinda bucks the PS3 demographic theory. The Blu-ray share chart is once again useless this week, as we wish HMM would filter it down to only show Blu-ray titles that were released day-and-date with DVD. Looking forward there No way Blu-ray can keep up these numbers though, because at this point just about everyone must already own a copy of TDK, but it will be interesting to follow the revenues post Christmas to see if all those Blu-ray players that flew off the shelf have the affect that Hollywood is hoping for.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 14th, 2008
The Dark Knight didn't disappoint anyone this week as it clearly outsold any other title (this week and the history of Blu-ray) by an unprecedented level according to Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Although TDK didn't make the top 10 on Blu-ray's market share chart this week -- thanks to a number of catalog titles, which are obviously availability at a great price somewhere -- based on our estimates it managed just under eight percent of DVD's share. This is barely half of what Blu managed overall, which was at an all time high of 14 percent -- the highest before this was October 5th (Iron Man) at 13 percent, but that week had less than half the revenue at $26 million. Speaking of revenue, this is the most money ever spent on Blu-ray in one week, and by a long shot. In fact this is close to what Blu-ray would make in a month. It truly does look like a Blu Christmas especially if you consider how many more DVD players there are out there. We can't say we blame anyone, with Blu-ray players selling for a little as decent upscalers, why not enjoy some real HD?
'American Idol' is most timeshifted show of 2008
Well, would you let your brain simmer on this a bit. American Idol, the famed singing competition that airs live numerous times per week when it's in full swing, was found to be the most timeshifted program in the USA in 2008. Granted, it's also the most watched show in the nation, but we digress. The significance here is that this tidbit, which was dug up by The Nielsen Company, goes to show that live competitions and so-called "topical" programming aren't as immune to DVRs as networks would love to believe. The data found that "an extra four million viewers watched Fox's American Idol in the seven days following the initial episodes." To us, the only true DVR-resistant programming is live sports -- the genuineness of the event just seems to fade when you're not watching in real time, but we can't say we've ever felt the same when watching Simon & Co. a few days after the fact.
Nielsen reports: 23% of US households have an HDTV
Ruh roh, we've got some conflicting evidence to deal with. Just last month, the Leichtman Research Group reported that some 34% of American households were HDTV-equipped, and now the highly respected Nielsen has stepped forward with a figure much, much lower. In fact, its latest numbers show that just 23.3% of all US homes have an HDTV, noting that it has more than doubled since a 10% penetration rating was found in July 2007. As for specific regions, the nation's capital was found to be most aware, with 31.1% of homes having a high-def set. Following DC were Boston and New York at 30.5% and 30.2%, respectively, while Detroit had the lowest percentage for a major market at 20.9%. Hmm... who to believe?[Via AdWeek]
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending November 30th, 2008
After Home Media Magazine took a week off from analyzing the Nielsen VideoScan numbers -- probably due to the short week -- Blu-ray manages to finally do in the last week of November what it did during every week in October: gain double digit market share of the top 20 titles. This was mostly due to Hancock which managed over 14 percent of the market from its standard-def brother. The other big help was from old favorites like Transformers and the latest Indiana movie. In fact the only other new release this week that managed to make the Blu-ray top 20 was Fred Claus at number 15. The very same title was at number 7 on the DVD charts and only gave up about 4 percent of its share to Blu-ray. It's hard to judge how well WALL-E did its first week, but based on its performance this week, we'd assume not very good on Blu-ray. But with all the solid catalog titles like The Shawshank Redemption due next week, we'll go out on a limb and predict that Blu-ray will stay over 10 percent, and just watch out the for the week after where we expect The Dark Knight to bring Blu-ray to new heights.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending November 16th, 2008
After staying in the double digits in regards to market share for all of October, for the second week in the row Blu-ray only manages just under 10% of the top 20 home media market share, according to Nielsen VideoScan courtesy of Home Media Magazine. The good news for Blu-ray is that sales were up 83.49 percent to over $20 million, which is up from about $11 million last week. The fact that Blu-ray didn't manage more of the market is what we'll refer to the panda affect. While we're not exactly sure how well Kung Fu Panda did on Blu-ray -- because the title market share chart only listed the top 10 this week -- last week it was less than 6 percent. Assuming this trend continued, and the fact that the panda movie held the number one and number three position on the DVD charts, it appears Blu-ray's number one title, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, was no match for it. Next week we'd be willing to bet we see much of the same because while WALL-E has a much broader appeal then animated fighting bears, it probably won't be enough to break Blu over 10 percent all on its own.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending November 9th, 2008
Again the affects of the Blu-ray demographic can be felt on this week's Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine as Kung Fu Panda debuts at number five. While the animated feature managed to sell 88 percent as many DVDs on one day -- thanks to a Sunday release -- as Get Smart did in an entire week, on Blu-ray it only managed about 44 percent, or about 5 percent of the title's total sales. This is far below the weekly share of 8 percent that Blu-ray managed overall and way less than the 13 percent Journey to the Center of the Earth managed. Speaking of which, although the Blu-ray Journey managed to steal more sales away from DVD then Get Smart, overall it wasn't able to sell more copies. Looking ahead to next week, we expect that Blu-ray will still have revenues in the double digits, as it has for the past 6 weeks or so, but we doubt it'll go up when the biggest title will probably be Hellboy II.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending November 2nd, 2008
For the first time in over a month Blu-ray dips below 10 percent market share in the Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine. This is clearly due to the lack of interest in Tinker Bell by the Blu-ray crowd, which on Blu-ray was outsold by Journey to the Center of the Earth by over 2:1, but on DVD perform almost exactly the opposite. In fact the Blu-ray version of Tinker Bell couldn't even mange 3 percent of DVD's share, and even Journey only managed half of what the Hulk did last week at about 10 percent. For the most part, these are the only two new releases that did anything as none of the others that week managed to crack the top 5 on the Blu-ray chart. The Polar Express was barely outed at number 6, only managing to sell 18 percent as many copies as the number one title. Next week will probably be very similar as Kung Fu Panda will be about as popular on Blu-ray as ol' Tinker, but we'll be looking to see if any of the Ape movies can move the charts.
Number of digital TV ready homes jumped in October
The digital TV transition message may be getting through, with Nielsen stats for October showing the biggest drop in "digital unready" homes in the last six months, going from 8.4% to 7.7%. Could be the tests, the FCC warnings, PSAs, or just procrastination finally wearing off, but whatever it is lets hope the pace keeps up. Amusing & informative viral ads aside, the February 17 deadline continues to approach, although we're sure you're more than ready, right?
A look at Election Night ratings: ABC gains, others lose
We already gave you a shot to voice your opinion on which Election Night broadcast was supreme, but now it's time to dig into the cold, hard facts. With all four of the broadcast networks holding nothing back in order to offer a whiz-bang high-def presentation, it looks as if ABC can be most proud. According to data from Nielsen Media Research, ABC's viewership increased by 9% in total viewers compared to four years prior, and it drew an average of 13.1 million on the eve of November 4th. NBC remained competitive with 12.02 million viewers, but that still represented a loss of 18% from the last election; as for CBS, it notched just 7.83 million watchers and saw its election-over-election results slip 14%. For the full list of numbers and percentages, check the read link.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 26th, 2008
Who'd a thought that The Incredible Hulk would sell so well? We sure didn't, as we predicted sales to be down more than 1.26 percent, on this week's Nielsen VideoScan chart courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Thanks to the Hulk, Blu-ray managed to net $17.71 million this week, which makes October the biggest month in history. In fact, consumers spent $76.86 million in October alone, which is more than all of August and September combined -- it will be very interesting to see if Blu-ray can keep this up through the last two months of the year though. For whatever reason the green monster was a hotter seller on Blu-ray than DVD, as it outsold Indiana by about 4:1, which is about twice as much as the DVD version managed against the same competition. This showed up on the Blu-ray title share chart, as the Hulk stole over 18 percent away from its DVD version, which to our memory is the best of any day-and-date title ever. The fun is over next week though, as there are only so many comic book movies around, and the next one isn't due for about a month. But when the latest Batman does hit the shelves, watch out, as it should easily outsell every Blu-ray title to date including the mighty Iron Man.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 12th, 2008
Once again Iron Man topped the Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine, but that is the most surprising news this week. Although Sleeping Beauty isn't exactly the quintessential example of a Blu-ray demographic title, we expected it to garner more than a nine percent of DVD's market share. For starters has mass appeal, but more importantly, the Blu-ray version included the DVD as well. Considering you got all that for about $10 more, it lead us to believe it'd sell better on Blu-ray then it did. Obviously the combination of getting both versions for a few dollars more wasn't as popular as many expected. We're not saying say Blu-ray had a bad week, because the revenues for this week were only second to last week (all time). We do expect next week to be better though, because Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should sell pretty well. Sure, it won't sell anywhere near as well as Iron Man did its first week, but that isn't saying much, as Iron Man is the current record holder. A record it will continue to hold until December 9th when the Dark Knight is released.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending October 5th, 2008
What a week for Blu-ray where -- according to Nielsen VideoScan data from Home Media Magazine -- revenues were an all time high and over twice as much as any other week, ever. Looking at the top twenty it's very apparent this was due to Iron Man, which sold like 20 times more copies than any other release. Iron Man was also able to steal 17 percent of the sales from DVD, which is the highest we've seen from any other day-and-date non-boxset release, ever. This is a great start to the fourth quarter for Blu-ray and while next week doesn't have any titles anywhere near as popular as Iron Man, it does have a wider array that will appeal to a broader audience. This combined with the historical tread that shows that home media sales are up during poor economic times, should make for a very Blu Christmas.
Blu-ray's market share has almost doubled since HD DVD's demise
Packaged media sales go up and down every week depending on the titles -- as documented by our weekly VideoScan post -- but for some reason, the 13 percent drop in Blu-ray sales last week got a lot of attention. What we can't figure out is why the 30 percent increases during the two weeks before (combined) went unnoticed. It boggles the mind why so many so-called tech evangelists only pick up on the bad weeks, but either way, let's go back and take a look at the facts since HD DVD called it quits about seven months ago.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending September 14th, 2008
Blu-ray sales were back down again this week to 8 percent, on the Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine. The past few months have made it harder and harder for us to find new things to talk about as the trend is so solid we can almost predict the results weeks before they are official. The good news for Blu-ray is that even when it is down, while DVD stays flat, the more popular titles like The Forbidden Kingdom still garner 11 percent of the market for Blu. For those who don't think Blu-ray has a demographic, you might finally start believing this week as Baby Mama (barely) outsold Forbidden Kingdom on DVD, at the same time it hardly managed fourth place on the Blu-ray charts only stealing 2.5 percent away from DVD. Next week should be a little better, but not much, as Speed Racer, 88 Minutes, and the duo from Weinstein should help out a bit.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending August 24th, 2008
As expected, not much going on this week as everyone in the home media business is waiting on the holiday season to release the hounds. Sure, both DVD and Blu-ray volumes are up this week, but both are still relatively low because Street Kings -- and other titles this week -- just weren't that interesting to consumers. The number one titles on Blu-ray this week was easily Street Kings, out selling any other titles two to one, but overall that title wasn't very popular with Blu-ray as less than ten percent of those who bought a disc containing the movie last week bought it on Blu. And who says parents don't buy their kids Blu-ray discs, as the latest Hannah Montana movie takes fourth overall on the Blu-ray charts -- but at the same time only managing to steal four percent away from DVD. Looking forward once again shows much of the same for next week, as we continue to wait for all the studios to ramp up for the holiday season.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending August 17th, 2008
Deja vu this week, as once again Blu-ray sales are down. Sure, it's only another ten percent, but we realized how big of a deal this was when we went back through every Nielsen VideoScan post, courtesy of Home Media Magazine, and couldn't find another week with revenues that low -- that data has only been reported since April. While last week there was some debate as to weather Blu-ray was slacking, or the fact that it was simply a weak slew of releases to blame, but this week there is no doubt, as DVD took a bigger hit than Blu-ray. We expect much of the same for the foreseeable future though, as we are right in the middle of TV series release season and it'll be at least a few weeks before the studios start to release all of the titles that should sell well this holiday season.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending August 10th, 2008
We had a feeling that August was going to be a rough month for Blu-ray, but we had no idea the Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine would be this bad. If you think that being down 26.88 percent over last week is bad, have a look at the revenue, at only 6.89 million we had to go back over three months to fine Blu revenues that low. The obvious reason is that the releases have been weak, but DVD didn't do as badly because of Nim's Island. In a movie you'd expect to see from Disney, Fox's kid title was easily the number one DVD, beating the two week old comedy in second by two to one. Meanwhile, the very same title only mustered 2 percent of DVDs sales and couldn't even sell half as many copies as a much older Batman Begins on Blu-ray. Although we doubt next week will be as bad as this one, we don't expect things to get much better until the fourth quarter, which is when the studios finally start to let some of their big titles out.
Cable penetration continues to slip as satellite, IPTV add customers
Even though DISH Network might be hustling backwards, the cable industry as a whole has hit an 18-year low, with the Television Bureau of Advertising finding wired cable penetration reaches just 60.9% of households. Alternative delivery systems (i.e. satellite, fiber, DSL, 2nd-day air) now grab 28.4% (28.2 of which is satellite), and nearly a third of all subscription subscribers. A few months ago when numbers hit mere 17-year lows, cable advertising execs found comfort in increased viewing time, but from here it looks like SDV and tru2way can't come soon enough.
Study: Parents corrupting unsullied children with killer game
A recent study conducted by Nielsen Games has uncovered an unsavory and alarming new link in the video game industry's ever-tightening chain around our nation's youth. It was found that 17% of respondents in the survey who had purchased a copy of the popular role-model pummeling game, "Grand Theft Auto IV," were between the ages of seven and sixteen. The crime glorification simulation, which imparts "gamer points" for beating innocent police officers to death with decapitated prostitute bodies, was rated "M" for "Mature." The most distressing news lies not in the fact that 61% of impressionable youths had been tricked into purchasing the games themselves by slick marketing and peer pressure, but the shocking revelation that 39% had been aided by someone else -- in 80% of these cases, parents themselves had thrust their child's ripe brain beneath the industry's oppressive mallet.Speaking exclusively to Joystiq, renowned child psychologist Dr. Alphred Larmist described this turn of events as "the ultimate betrayal." According to him, parents could be the most dangerous conduit of pixelated poison. "Parents getting involved is the last thing we need," Larmist said. "If they take an active role in what entertainment their children partake in, this is the sort of disaster that could happen. Next thing you know, they're determining what's appropriate for the kids and going out and buying Grand Theft Auto. They're supposed to be on our side." Dr. Larmist vowed he would take up the campaign to keep parents and their influence away from children. "If nothing is done, these video gamers will reduce our society to naught but chainsaws having bloody sex with each other."
