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Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending April 13th, 2008
Sorry we're a little late on this week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine, as again this week Blu-ray's market share is pretty low. It's not too hard to figure out how though, as 11 out of the top 20 DVDs for the same week aren't available on Blu-ray. While Alvin, The Water Horse and There Will be Blood rule DVD, the long legged I Am Legend again takes the number one spot on the charts -- after giving Alvin a turn last week. To put things into perspective, I Am Legend only sold 20% as many copies as Alvin on DVD. The night crawler movie didn't do too bad on HD DVD either, as it easily outsold any other HD DVD title by almost 9:1 and has us scratching our head that it didn't take the number 10 spot on the High-Def Sellers chart. Blu-ray should fare better next week, as DVD doesn't have as much of an advantage in the exclusives department, and Blu has a few titles we expect to do well like the latest AVP.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending April 6th, 2008
This week's Videoscan numbers from Home Media Magazine really shows how sensitive Blu-ray sales are to new releases. It is also a great example that some new releases will sell much better to the Blu-ray audience than to the more general audience of DVD. Alvin and the Chipmunks only slightly outsold the three week old I Am Legend on Blu-ray, while at the same time, the SD version outpaced its counterpart by almost 10:1. So it seems more likely that overall Blu-ray sales were down -- rather then red being up -- when you compare the Red vs Blu chart, as Red has its best week in almost a month at 36 percent. The other stat that enforces this is the fact that unlike the last time Red had this much market share, not one HD DVD made the top ten. We expect much of the same next week considering the releases, but will be interested to see if Warner's I Am Legend will see any success on the now defunct HD DVD.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 30th, 2008
Here we are two weeks into the new Nielsen VideoScan charts courtesy of Home Media Magazine, and Blu-ray has managed to increase its share from 6 to 8 percent. This was mostly due to the super hot I Am Legend that has for the second week in a row dominated both the High-Def Sellers list and the DVD charts. The big missing title for Blu-ray this week was The Mist from the once Red exclusive studio Weinstein. So while Weinstein has been quiet about its HD plans, this new release takes the number two spot on the DVD charts. This is one of the eight titles that made the DVD top 20 list, but isn't available in HD. Meanwhile, half the titles that made the HD list are older titles, so no doubt promotional sales are making the difference here. HD DVD didn't make the list at all, but did manage to regain some market share overall -- but not much. We'd be very surprised to see that become a trend as the format is officially out of exclusive new releases. At the same time, we'd be surprised if Blu-ray was able to keep its 8 percent share next week considering the lineup, but sometimes catalog titles sell so well, Blu may prove us wrong.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 23rd, 2008
Many of you asked for it, and this week you got it, thanks to Home Media Magazine's Nielsen VideoScan numbers, we now know how the favorite HD home movie format compares to the reigning home media champion. Sure, 6 percent isn't that much, but it's more than most people thought it was, but to be fair it is only taking into account the top 20 BDs vs the top 20 DVDs. This is an interesting way to compare the two formats as seven out of the top 20 -- three in the top 10 -- DVDs aren't available on Blu-ray, but DVD has many more releases than Blu-ray, so while the angle is obviously in Blu-ray's favor, it'll become even more true, as more Blu-ray titles are released day-and-date with DVDs. Looking back at our old fight, HD DVD's last exclusive is now done and gone and as expected, HD DVD has its worst week ever, but with the recent events we only expect this to get worse, and wonder how long HMM will continue to compile results. The other indicator that it's officially over -- as if we needed another -- is the lack of a single HD DVD on the HDM top ten chart. Not even HD DVD's last exclusive could make the list, but Blu-ray's latest didn't have any problem killin' the competition as I Am Legend destroyed Disney's Enchanted by almost four to one. The other interesting thing about this week's chart is that most of the rest of the 10 ten is made up of oldies, which makes us want to know; where are all the sales?
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 16th, 2008
Our friends over at Home Media Magazine are serious about their holidays, and thus this week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers are a few days late. For the fifth week in a row though, the so called dead format has been able to hold off Blu enough to keep at least 20 percent of the market share, but what is different is that with the last of the big HD exclusives already said and done, Red doesn't have a title in the top five for the first time in a month. So while we'll have to wait and see how long the final two exclusives can hold a spot in the top ten, we can really see how much of an impact the Bee Movie could've had on the charts by looking at the DVD sales. At the same time as No Country for Old Men easily outsold any other title available in HD by 2:1, it was outsold by the Bee Movie on DVD by almost 12 percent. The other missing title this week is Disney's dog movie, which took the number four spot on the DVD charts, and is apparently too valuable for a Blu-ray release. What's really different about this week, is that for the first time -- that we can remember -- all seven top spots are new releases. We definitely don't expect to see that again, as I Am Legend is sure to top all the charts next week, we're not sure how well Enchanted will do, but we'd bet it'll do better than Atonement.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 9th, 2008
This week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine remind us of the good 'ol days when the format was still raging. In fact, it's kinda nice to see HD DVD go out with a bang, as we suspect this will be the final week HD DVD is able to hold on to a respectable share of the market. We chalk up this week's results to Disney, because we believe that if 101 Dalmatians was released on Blu-ray this week, we'd be looking at completely different results. The reason we think that is because on DVD, the classic dog movie outsold Beowulf by over 4:1 -- that's not to say it would've sold that much better on Blu, since Beowulf probably appeals more to the HDM crowd. Blu-ray's top title didn't do too bad this week though ,but it barely bested the three week old American Gangster. As much fun as it is to see how well hot excluvies continue to sell on HD DVD, the fun is over as the only remaining new release left is Atonement in a few weeks. But even if there were any left, we doubt they'd stand up to Blu's lineup that will be reflected in next week's numbers. What's more up in the air is the status of this weekly post, but we're sure we'll think of something -- no we won't compare Blu-ray to DVD.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 2nd, 2008
Once again this week, Home Media Magazine was nice enough to let us use its Nielsen VideoScan charts to witness Blu-ray regain the top spot -- despite the fact that for the second week in a row HD DVD had the better releases. So at the same time the DVD version of Beowulf outsold 30 Days of Night by almost 2:1, the Blu-ray 30 Days of Night bested Beowulf by almost 20-percent. Either way, from there the sales of HD DVDs really drop off, so much so that the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Crawford only sold 6.45-percent as many copies as Beowulf. To put this into perspective, when it debuted on Blu-ray it hit number two, but only made the top ten for two weeks. The real shocker this week is that classic animated movie, Justice League: The New Frontier hit number five its first week out. The other unusual appearance this week is from the studio Topics, with Over California. We expect next week to be HD DVD's last with over 20-percent share, when the last Paramount titles hit the street, but we supposed Atonement might be a hit for Universal later this month.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending February 24th, 2008
American Gangster is the title to talk about on this week's edition of the Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine. It's the title of the week because it has done something we wouldn't have dreamed possible, it easily took the number one spot on the charts outselling the best Blu-ray title Michael Clayton by almost 2:1. But this isn't as impressive as it seems because the DVD version of AG outsold the DVD version of MC by over 3:1. Regardless, this title single handedly kept HD DVD out of the teens in overall market share as the number two HD DVD (Transformers) this week only sold 6 percent as many copies. Meanwhile, We Own the Night wasn't able to hold off a few older Blu-ray titles -- obviously there was some sort of sale. We expect much of the same next week as HD DVD's final hot exclusive, Beowulf gets counted. But what will be reallying interesting is to see how well The Assassination of Jesse James sells on HD DVD. This title debuted at number two on the charts when it was released on Blu-ray three weeks ago, and will give us a better idea on how many HD DVD fans are still loyal to Red.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending February 10th, 2008
So much for that trend as according to this week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine Blu has put red back into the teens with a 81/19 split. It isn't too hard to figure out what 's driving the numbers this week as Warner and Sony take most of the market with new releases and the number three title outselling four by about 2:1. HD DVD's new release did make the top 10 at number nine, but only sold a fourth of what Sony's Across the Universe did -- who'd a thought it'd be number one though. Next week is going to be a lot of the same, but with so many HD DVD sales going on, we'd be very surprised if red wasn't back out the teens. But with every week that goes by and Paramount and Universal fail to announce new titles, we just can't help but believe that all these rumors that the end is near for HD DVD are true.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending February 3rd, 2008
Not sure if we're ready to say HD DVD is back in the fight again, but for the third week in a row, the red camp has slowly been crawling out of the dismal hole that Warner helped put them in, according to the Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine. What is even more surprising is the fact that for the first time in a month, two HD DVDs made the top ten list -- but judging by which titles made it, we're not sure how much there is to get excited about in the red camp. Sure, the legs that Transformers and The Bourne Supremacy has is impressive, but we wonder how many were sold to new HD DVD owners when picking up a low cost player, and how many were offered in a sale or promotion. We'd wager that the biggest factor at play here is disappointing Blu-ray sales. Warner can't be too happy with The Invasion, but not its not as disappointed as Sony is Daddy Day Camp. Sure we knew these weren't good movies, but both were in the top six on the DVD sales charts the same week. Now we get to wait and see if this red comeback trend continues in the face of a more impressive Blu lineup the following week, because if red comes back any more, the 74/26 split will be back to 65/35 before we know it.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending January 27th, 2008
While HD DVD continues to edge back a few percent at a time -- 15 percent, then 17 and now 18 -- with almost a month to go until the red camp has a title worth mentioning, we expect Blu-ray to continue to kill HD DVD in the Nielsen VideoScan charts, courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Also for the third week in a row, HD DVD fails to get a title on the top 10, but this week only two Blu titles that are also available on HD DVD, made the list. The two Blu-ray new releases top the charts this week, while former number two 3:10 to Yuma holds on to third, which still sold half as many copies as the leader Saw IV. Meanwhile, the latest Pirates movie drops to four, after being in the top three, for seven weeks in a row -- that's some legs. Looking toward to next week, we expect another week of Blu-ray outselling HD DVD by over 4:1 and will be interested in seeing how well Warner's The Invasion does, despite its poor reviews.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending January 20th, 2008
While one week is not a trend, two weeks in the row could be the start of one. And according to this week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine, Blu-ray has once again defeated HD DVD handily with a 83/17 split (4.9:1). The other thing to happen two weeks in a row that could also become a trend is that -- despite the fact that four of the top ten titles are also available on Blu-ray -- not one HD DVD made the list. You might be quick to say this is Warner's doing, but we can't forget that it has been a month since HD DVD released a decent title. So this situation is as much Universal and Paramount's fault as anyone else. Of course the real bad news here for the red camp is there aren't any hot titles to speak of until American Gangster hits the street in about a month. And to top this off -- looking at the entire release schedule for the red camp -- there are only ten HD DVD exclusive titles. If HD DVD is really trying to win this thing, they need to push Universal and Paramount to release the hottest catalog titles in their vaults, otherwise we don't see how this thing can be turned around.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending January 13th, 2008
We must say we didn't see this coming, sure we knew the Warner announcement would have some impact on the Nielsen VideoScan numbers, courtesy of Home Media Magazine, but who would've guessed the spread would be 85/15 (5.7:1)? What is just as telling is the top ten chart, which despite having six titles on it that are also available on HD DVD, not one HD DVD made the list for the first time since we can remember, -- first time ever? To be fair, we should point out that HD DVD didn't have any blockbusters in the past few weeks and as we've seen many times, a big exclusive title like 3:10 to Yuma can give both sides a surge. But with no big titles on the calendar in the next few months for red, we wouldn't be surprised if these crazily lopsided sales become the norm. We do wonder how long HD DVD will stay the course if they can't even garner 20% of the movie sales market.
Ask Engadget HD: Where do these VideoScan numbers come from?
When we brought back Ask Engadget HD, we told you the answers would go both ways. In case you couldn't guess, this is the variety where we answer your questions. We're going to start this off by explaining where Nielsen VideoScan numbers come from.Nielsen is the leading provider of marketing information and thanks to its TV ratings it needs no introduction. The TV shows ratings have helped content providers decide which shows get canceled for some time. Starting in 1993, in cooperation with ACNielsen, the company started collecting movie sales information from most major retailers. Some of these retailers can report early, and this data is used to make up what's called First Alert, this is the data that shows up weekly in our Nielsen VideoScan HD movie post. The list of First Alert Retailers is very extensive and includes just about every major retailer including: Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart and Target. But as many HD DVD fans will tell you Wal-Mart doesn't count. It's not that Nielsen doesn't want to count or that there's some blu conspiracy going on, it's just against Wal-Mart's corporate policy to share sales data. But despite what red fanboys will tell you, this does not invalidate the numbers -- they are expressed in percentages, and as any high school statistics student can tell you, unless Wal-Mart stopped selling Blu-ray movies entirely, the sale of HD DVD movies at one retailer alone wouldn't be enough to significantly change the outcome. Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 23rd, 2007
Not sure if we're ever going to catch up, but this weeks edition of Home Media Magazine includes the Nielsen VideoScan results from the week ending December 23rd. And just like the week before -- and the week after -- Blu-ray has the majority with a 61:39 (1.56:1) share. For the second week in the row, the latest Bourne movie was able to hold off Blu-ray's best; The Simpson Movie. Blu's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was once again able to out pace red's, but not by much. For the first time since we can remember HD DVD has four titles in the top ten -- up from three -- with Transformers holding on to a top ten spot after two months of being released. While we hope that HMM skips a week in it's next issue, either way we'd expect much of the same -- yeah, real obvious when we already know the overall numbers -- with the lackluster titles released on both sides. We are interested to see how Blu-ray's first profile 1.1 titles sell, but unless the BDA tells us at CES, who knows when we will see those numbers.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 16th, 2007
Better late then never right? It better be, because Home Media Magazine took last week off, so this week's edition includes the Nielsen VideoScan numbers from the week ending December 16th 2007. Not sure if they plan to catch up somehow -- eventually skip a week -- but either way we'll bring 'em to you when they're published. As previously reported by a AVS member -- Blu-ray outsold HD DVD by 61:39 (1.56:1) despite the fact that the HD DVD exclusive The Bourne Ultimatum outsold Blu-ray's best title by almost 2:1. Part of the reason for blu's success this week was some old favorites like 300 and Spider-Man 3, but judging by the new legs on Casino Royale, we'd say a BOGO sale contributed to the success as well. Looking forward to next week last week, the same trusty source has beat HMM to the punch and let us know that once again the ratio was 61:39, and although Amazon is included in these numbers, the HD DVD BOGO sale wasn't in progress yet. But as successful as the sale appears to be, we really doubt it'll be enough to give red it's first winning week of the year.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 9th, 2007
While we expect for a blockbuster title to kill when it's the only big one that week, Pirates not only outsold Superbad by almost 3:1, but it helped lead Blu-ray to the biggest win (76/24 or 3.17:1) since we've been following the Nielsen VideoScan numbers, courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Although, not even other Blu-ray titles could compete with the end of the world, HD DVD did once again manage to keep Planet Earth as it's number one title (third overall) which indicates that all the new HD DVD owners don't have it yet. Assuming that the 160k Pirates number yesterday is correct, Superbad sold 60k copies, (not too bad) and HD DVD's Earth, sold 20k copies -- some legs for a six month old title. While the blu camp will certainly be touting their dominance this week, next week will be the real indicator in the format war when both versions of the latest version of Harry Potter go head to head.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending December 2nd, 2007
Just when Blu-ray fans thought they'd run away with it, the red camp strikes back with a 58/42 (1.38:1) split according to the Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media magazine. The fun part is trying to figure out what everyone bought. Looking at the top ten list, we can only assume that all those new HD-A2 owners have finally started buying movies -- either that or everyone went out and bought a second copy of Planet Earth. The most interesting thing, is that even though HD DVD almost sold as many titles as Blu-ray, only three made the top ten, and none of them were released the same week. This tells us that a lot of people bought a wide array of titles, which is good news for red. This isn't the best they've done since we've been tracking, in fact when Transformers was released it was 51/49. We can't wait to check out the numbers next week, to see if red's new legs can hold up against the latest installment of Pirates.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending November 25th, 2007
Blu-ray once again pulls ahead with help from Bruce in this week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine. In fact this week's 72/28 (2.57:1) is the biggest lead Blu-ray has enjoyed since we started our weekly post a couple of months ago. HD DVD has a few hot titles of their own this week with Sherk the Third making the top five as well as Transformers which held on to HD DVD's only other top ten spot. Not surprisingly, the very expensive Star Trek box set failed to make the top ten. Judging by this list, it doesn't appear that Blu-ray recent discount sales had much of an impact on this weeks numbers and was more impacted by big titles -- surprise, surprise. The other trend that continues is Warner's Blu-ray titles make the list while its HD DVD brother does not -- we can't wait to see what happens in December when Harry hits the shelves. Judging by last week's titles, (not counted here) we'd expect much of the same next week, unless of course all those new HD DVD owners finally got done watching all those free titles and finally start buying movies to actually help red's cause.
Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending November 11th, 2007
The comedies strike back this week, as two Universal HD DVD exclusives help the red camp regain a little lost ground, according to this weeks Nielsen VideoScan numbers, courtesy of Home Media Magazine. Disney's Rat and Cars wasn't enough to outsell HD DVD 70/30 again this week, as the number slips to 65/35 (1.86:1). Judging by the fact that Transformers held on strong by staying in the top four for so many weeks and there were three HD DVD titles in the top ten compared to last week's one, it's probably safe to assume that all those extra HD DVD players that hit the streets recently are helping out. With the influx of HD movies players for both sides in the past few weeks, and the release of one of the biggest neutral titles since 300, next week should be an interesting week.
