DVD sales slipped for the first time since the format was introduced in 1997, says USAToday.
Consumers spent $16 billion buying DVDs, about $600 million less than in 2006. But rentals matched last year’s total of $7.5 billion.Hollywood shipped 1.7 billion discs — about 30 million more than in 2006 — a sign that DVD remains strong, Smith says. “There is a natural progression to lower price points due to the maturing market,” she says. “But there are still titles — big blockbuster releases, collector sets and, mostly, TV DVD compilations — that are generating high price points.”
The average selling price of a DVD dropped 0.5% to $14.63.
Despite the downturn in DVD sales, the $23.7 billion total spending on home video dwarfs Hollywood’s $9.6 billion box-office total for 2007.
Could this mean that the market has absorbed all the $170 Miami Vice Complete Series boxsets it can handle? The horror.
DVD feels first sting of slipping sales [USAToday]
(Photo:feverblue)
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Could it be that DVD sales had been previously artificially inflated by people repurchasing films that they had already bought in VHS form and the market has finally reached it’s natural saturation point?
No… that would *make sense*…
@SkyeBlue: Do you have kids? I don’t experience any deterioration of DVD. There is no physical/playback reason why an *undamaged* correctly handled DVD would start manifesting playback problems after any number of plays. Sounds like a DVD handling or player issue.
We have not yet had the format nearly long enough to know it’s long-term viability, as that would be measured in decades.
Stop the presses. DVD sales are down 3% in a one-year period. What? They actually sold 30 million more than the previous year? So the actual story should be ‘Retailers Slightly Lower Average Price Of DVDs.’
And does this count the used market? I never buy new retail anymore. If it’s something I must have, I wait 2 weeks and buy it on Amazon used. Or wait 4 weeks and Blockbuster is selling it for $12.99.
And after 10 years, virtually all movies I was interested in buying have been released with the exception of just a few.
I know I’m holding off on some movie purchases because I’m waiting for the HD format war to settle. The longer this stretches out, the more it’ll hurt the studios.
As someone who owns over 600 dvd’s, about 25 hd-dvd’s and 6 blu-rays that i got for free with my PS3…let me tell you why sales are down!
As someone who loves movies and will buy just about anything even if its not so good the reason I have stopped buying so many movies is because the quality of titles over the last 2 years has dropped so low its not worth wasting my hard earned money.
it has nothing to do with a format war, or piracy. its all about quality and Hollywood currently doesnt have it.
@SkyeBlue: uhm, if your movies are freezing after watching them its because you are making them dirty, your player is making them dirty, your player itself is crap and or dirty or you’re (no offense) stupid.
DVD’s dont age like tapes. A dvd should last 20+ years if stored properly and the quality never degrades from repeated use so you make zero sense.
I can get almost any movie I want from my local library. So I therefore in 2007 I didn’t buy any DVD’s. Not planning on any purchases in 2008 either. I never understood buying movies to begin with. I will never be able to watch all the movies/TV series/sports events I want to watch, so why would I want to re-watch a movie/TV show over? Maybe when I’m retired and have nothing better to do I will start re-watching movies and shows I’ve already watched. I remember seeing articles talking about the next generation of DVD player before the original DVD format had taken over the VHS format. Why invest in library of movies when the format is obsolete even before it has penetrated the market? Didn’t make sense to me then, obviously some more people are starting to get the idea as well.
Better start opening your wallets and buying again or Hollywood will be forced to outsource to Bollywood.
I too and waiting for the format war to end. At this time, the only thing I buy are TV shows. I love the time frame for watching while flying and I always have a TV show in the DVD player while gaming. I just don’t see the point of buying an eye candy type movie just to have to get it again in the uber next gen format.
Wow, nice typo…”I too am…” not “I too and…” My apologies folks.
J
@randombob: How do you define frequent viewings? More than twice per year? I mean, do the numbers actually work, or is this a situation where you are paying for the convenience of owning the disc?
If you want to watch something on a whim, there is still the physical video store, no?
Is your average cost per use less than a video store?
Thanks for illuminating me on your habits. I rarely watch a movie more than once, so it’s helpful to understand your mindset.