Nielsen VideoScan/Home Media Magazine: Blu-ray/DVD/HD DVD Stats (Updated Weekly)

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 12th November 2011, here are the stats:

Percentage of revenue:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 29.60% vs 70.40%

Blu-ray sales total spending: $54.22 million
DVD sales total spending: $128.95 million

These stats available from here:

Home Media Magazine



Top 10:

It's that time of the year, and for the last time ever, it's Harry Potter week again. With the release of the latest, and last, Harry Potter movie, the top 10 Blu-ray charts was completely dominated by the final installment of the boy wizard's saga.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 was the top selling title of the week, surging ahead of the seconded placed Cars 2, which only itself barely managed to beat Deathly Hallows - Part 1. Places 8 to 10 were also taken by Harry Potter movies, and the 4 other movies were spread out through the next 10 spots as well.

Those keen with maths might have noticed that's actually 9 entries, for 8 movies, but the extra entry was for the Harry Potter 8-film collection box set, which came in at 8th.

For the other new releases of the week, The Change-Up was 5th, and um, that was it (if you don't include the Barbie direct to video release that wasn't even released on Blu-ray, that is).

The complete top 10 chart is below (new releases in bold, and Blu-ray exclusives are denoted by *):

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
2. Cars 2
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
4. *Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
5. The Change-Up
6. *Lion King
7. Captain America: The First Avenger
8. Harry Potter Complete 8-Film Collection
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Market Share:

All of the Harry Potter movies hovered around the 50% market share level, but the 8-film box set (56.31%) and Deathly Hallows Part 1 (53.48%) both exceeded the 50% level, with Deathly Hallows Part 2 getting 48.94%.

To me, this is somewhat disappointing for Blu-ray (although if this had happened last year, it would have been a record), mainly that I would have thought the people that would buy the box set would be those that already have at least a couple of the films on DVD already, and this kind of "upgrade" usually means a high market share level for the Blu-ray version. Same with Deathly Hallows Part 1, which has been out long enough for it to not become a Blu-ray upgrader's buy. But I guess this must mean a lot of buyers are still new to the HP franchise, which explains the relatively high DVD box set market share.

The Change-Up managed 40.45%, if anybody cares.

The 3D version of both parts of Deathly Hallows, which was a Best Buy exclusive, had 13% and 7% market share (that's market share as a percentage of all disc sales, and so the same market share calculations as the other figures listed here).

You can see the Blu-ray top 20 market share chart here:

Top 20 Blu-ray Market Share Chart

Year on Year Comparison

The stats for the week ending 13th November 2010 are as follows (you can see stats and analysis for the week ending 14th November 2010 here - note that data has since been revised, and the reporting period has changed as well, but this historical data is still useful for comparison purposes).

Blu-ray vs DVD: 18.03% vs 81.97%

Blu-ray: $32.22 million
DVD: $146.53 million

This time last year, there wasn't an A-List release (Scott Pilgrims and Grown-Ups were the new releases back then), and Toy Story 3 was still top of the chart.

Blu-ray sales increased by $22mil (up 68%), while DVD sales decreased by $17.58mil (down 12%) producing an overall gain of $4.42 million in combined revenue. Revenue growth is always impressive given the increasing market share of digital downloads that aren't counted in these stats, but only if you don't consider the caliber of releases between this year and last. $4.42 million revenue gain comparing the final Harry Potter installment to Grown-Ups, which earned less than half at the box office, would seem to suggest something is not quite right.

Blu-ray's market share increased from 18.03% to 29.60% (a growth of 64.17%).

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 19th November 2011, here are the stats:

Percentage of revenue:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 23.54% vs 76.46%

Blu-ray sales total spending: $39.27 million
DVD sales total spending: $127.57 million

These stats available from here:

Home Media Magazine



Top 10:

A largely new release free week, and prelude to the Black Friday Sales. As a result, Blu-ray revenue slumped to multi-week lows, while market share also retreated. Interestingly, DVD revenue held up, thanks largely to two Disney Blu-ray exclusives no longer being Blu-ray exclusives - the timed exclusive period for both The Lion King and PotC: On Stranger Tides expired, and the DVD versions of these movies were released.

Perhaps showing that the "Blu-ray exclusive" approach may yet have some flaws, both of these formerly exclusive titles shot back up the sales charts, showing that DVD still has some life in it yet (and many actually did wait for the DVD only version - the delay tactic may even have harmed sales for those that didn't want to wait and used the Internet to get the movie, legally or otherwise). 'On Stranger Tides' and The Lion King had slipped to 12th and 19th in the all discs sales charts last week, but the DVD-only release pushed them back up to 2nd and 3rd place respectively on the same chart.

The only new release was Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury/Book of Dragons, which came in 9th on the Blu-ray charts. West Side Story was new to Blu-ray though and came in 8th - this was a Blu-ray exclusive since there was no equivalent DVD release.

Larry Crowne was actually a new release, but it only came 14th on the total disc charts, and with a poor Blu-ray market share value of 19%, it failed to make the Blu-ray top 20.

Harry Potter still dominated the charts.

The complete top 10 chart is below (new releases in bold, and Blu-ray exclusives are denoted by *):

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
3. Harry Potter Complete 8-Film Collection
4. Cars 2
5. Captain America: The First Avenger
6. Lion King
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
8. *West Side Story
9. Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury/Book of Dragons
10. Firefly: The Complete Series

Market Share:

Let's get the only new release out of the way, Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury/Book of Dragons had 43.53% market share, which is respectable given that this was a direct to video release.

With that out of the way, there's, um, nothing really much left to talk about, so um, yep, this is it.

You can see the Blu-ray top 20 market share chart here:

Top 20 Blu-ray Market Share Chart

Year on Year Comparison

The stats for the week ending 20th November 2010 are as follows (you can see stats and analysis for the week ending 21st November 2010 here - note that data has since been revised, and the reporting period has changed as well, but this historical data is still useful for comparison purposes).

Blu-ray vs DVD: 20.07% vs 79.93%

Blu-ray: $39.07 million
DVD: $155.57 million

Avatar: Extended Edition was released on Blu-ray this time last year, which accounts for the higher than normal (for back then) Blu-ray revenue figures, but as the release wasn't a Blu-ray exclusive, DVD sales also benefited from a lift in revenue.

Blu-ray sales increased by only $0.20mil (up 0.5%), while DVD sales decreased by $28mil (down 18%) producing an overall loss of $17.8 million in combined revenue. It's not a small loss, but considering it's the eagerly awaited extended edition of Avatar versus, um, almost nothing (new) this week, a loss was probably expected.

Blu-ray's market share increased from 20.07% to 23.54% (a growth of 17.29%).

[dr_ml422]

How could Dragon be a blu-ray release and a only straight to video release? You mean there was no alternative format etc...?

How could TLK and Potc On Stranger Tides be in the top ten here, though 2nd and 3rd respectively? This is kinda confusing. Unless they're 6 and 7 in the top ten blu-ray list for the 19th November.

[admin]

'Dragon' was a straight to video release I think, which basically means that it didn't have a cinema presentation, nor was it shown on TV first. By 'video' I mean home video, which includes all the disc and digital formats.

The Lion King and 'On Stranger Tides' were 2nd and 3rd on the all discs sales charts (which includes both DVD and Blu-ray sales), but much lower on the Blu-ray only sales charts because both finally had the "DVD-only" version of the movie released for sale during the week.

So basically, their Blu-ray market share went from being a Blu-ray exclusive with 100% market share, to only 20% for The Lion King, and 18% for 'On Stranger Tides', for the above week.

[dr_ml422]

So the only way to obtain 100% market share is to be a exclusive? If not then how do you calculate market share when not a exclusive and especially if there are more than one exclusives?

[admin]

When I say "Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury/Book of Dragons had 43.53% (Blu-ray) market share" I mean that for this *particular title*, 43.53% of all disc based sales belonged to the Blu-ray format.

For a title that was a Blu-ray only release, like "West Side Story", then 100% of all disc based sales would be on Blu-ray, and hence, a Blu-ray market share of 100%.

If I refer to the total Blu-ray market share for the week, I usually use the phrase "overall Blu-ray market share", this number represents the revenue of *all* Blu-ray titles sold as a percentage total disc based revenue for the week (this is the number shown at the top, which for the week ending 19th Nov, the overall Blu-ray market share was 23.54%). This includes every title sold for the week, including exclusives and non exclusives.

For The Lion King and 'On Stranger Tides', for a couple of weeks, they were Blu-ray exclusives, in that all sales were on Blu-ray (combos counts as Blu-ray). Disney usually delays the DVD-only edition about a month after the release of the combo, and the DVD-only editions for The Lion King and 'On Stranger Tides' were released during the week ending 19th Nov. This is why they cease becoming Blu-ray exclusives, and the Blu-ray market share for each title dropped from 100% (exclusive) to around only 20%.

In other words, Disney tried to force people to buy the combo, but many still waited a month to get the DVD version, which means that Disney possibly lost revenue (or at least delayed taking it in) by doing timed exclusive combos.

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 26th November 2011, here are the stats:

Percentage of revenue:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 22.71% vs 77.29%

Blu-ray sales total spending: $88.28 million
DVD sales total spending: $300.39 million

These stats available from here:

Home Media Magazine



Top 10:

Don't be alarmed at the huge numbers above - it's not a typo, it's simply Black Friday sales week, that's all.

Despite the huge numbers, there was only a single new release, and it wasn't even the top selling Blu-ray of the week. Super 8 was only the 4th best selling new release on the combined discs (DVD and Blu-ray) charts, and 2nd on the Blu-ray only chart, despite a strong Blu-ray performance for the title.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was still the best selling Blu-ray of the week.

So that leaves only one question: how did Black Friday 2011 compare to Black Friday 2010?

Back in 2010, BF week recorded a total revenue of $443.83m (see "revised" figures for BF week 2010 below). This is now down to $388.67m, a huge loss of $55.16m (-12.43%).

But all of the loss was by DVD. Blu-ray sales, on the other hand, actually increased in revenue, albeit by only a small amount: $88.28m compared to $84.08m - a small gain of $4.2m (+5%).

If DVD were a person, he (or she) would explain that the large loss can be somewhat explained away by the rise in SD streaming and downloads (although how much of a role this plays during Black Friday, I don't know). And the 16.5% loss is within recent averages.

Another explanation is that, given DVD prices are already quite low normally, there was little that retailers could do to discount DVDs more, and so, the bargains weren't as attractive.

We're getting slightly off topic though, as this feature is mainly about Blu-ray, so looking at the Blu-ray numbers, it seems pretty average to be honest. The average revenue growth, when comparing any single week to the same week last year, has been 34.86% for 2011. And with retailers being able to do more with Blu-ray discounts than compared to DVD, with no real competition in terms of digital streaming/downloads (at least not HD of the same quality), Black Friday 2011 can only be termed a disappointing one for Blu-ray, with only 5% growth compared to last year.

Obviously, it's hard to compare two different periods, with different sets of new and recent releases to account for. But taking that into account, BF week 2010, for Blu-ray at least, was a large improvement on BF week 2009, by the tunes of more than $14m (and a 20% increase).

Also interesting is that, a lot of the titles in the top 10 aren't really recent releases, and most of them were part of Amazon's BF deals week sales.

The complete top 10 chart is below (new releases in bold, and Blu-ray exclusives are denoted by *):

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
2. Super 8
3. Lion King
4. *Pulp Fiction
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
6. X-Men: First Class
7. Fast Five
8. Inception
9. Green Lantern
10. Conan the Barbarian

Market Share:

Super 8's Blu-ray version managed to be 58.66% of all disc sales, and that's a fairly good first week result.

After last week's surge of DVD sales, following the release of DVD-only version of The Lion King and PotC: On Stranger Tides after the timed Blu-ray exclusive period lapsed, Blu-ray market share for these two titles bounced back again, to around 58% for both - the Blu-ray/combo versions of both titles also featured as part of Amazon's BF deals week, which might have had something to do with the resurgence.

It was also interesting to note that the 3D version of The Lion King had 27% market share, which is quite impressive for any 3D release. One of the more popular Amazon BF deals was the trilogy boxset, which included the 3D version of the first film, and I gather this counted towards the 3D market share figure.

You can see the Blu-ray top 20 market share chart here:

Top 20 Blu-ray Market Share Chart

Year on Year Comparison

The stats for the week ending 27th November 2010 are as follows (you can see stats and analysis for the week ending 28th November 2010 here - note that data has since been revised, and the reporting period has changed as well, but this historical data is still useful for comparison purposes).

Blu-ray vs DVD: 18.94% vs 81.06%

Blu-ray: $84.08 million
DVD: $359.75 million

Blu-ray sales increased by $4.2m (up 5%), while DVD sales decreased by $59.36m (down 16.5%) producing an overall loss of $55.16 million in combined revenue. It's a big loss, while the DVD loss is within recent averages, the Blu-ray gain is a bit low.

Similarly, Blu-ray's market share also didn't increase by much compared to recent averages, with market share increasing from 18.94% to 22.71% (a growth of 19.9%).

[dr_ml422]

It doesn't make too much sense to wait for a DVD only release when the combo is usually not that much more if at all don't you think? I'm almost sure they waited for the DVD only release for more than just purchase reasons.

Warner didn't lose any money, rather they just didn't earn it earlier. There's no way these studiod lose unless the consumer totally rejects the sale which is practically non-existant. They might not make as much as they felt, though it would have to be a really lousy flic to not make anything both at the box office and the release. In that case if the box office is a total flop, I wonder if they would still put out a release on DVD etc...

People are funny though, because if I'm not mistaken that old flic by Kevin Costner regarding the ocean or w/e was a total box office flop, though it sold countless copies on the hard copy.

Basically I think you posted this already that most of the sales talked about here are Blu-ray as this is a Blu-ray thread correct? So unless you mention DVD we could presume sales/stats are for Blu-ray? Except when you say total disc sales and post the Blu-ray market share of a given title for all discs/formats right?

You think the studios play w/the stats even though HMM puts out these numbers? I know the economy is screwed up, though I really wonder about waiting for a only DVD release.

[admin]

Yes, assume I'm talking about Blu-ray, unless it's specifically stated that the figures are for DVD (I will usually specifically state the case anyway).

The stats come from Home Media Magazine research, so they're sort of independent of the studios (in that the studios don't have direct input), but the stats are really just estimates, and so there could be (unintentional) bias involved (and since the stats have been "readjusted" quite a few times by HMM, it's safe to say that they can only be used as a rough guide).

As for Warner lost sales, it does look like many waited for the DVD release preferring not to buy the combo, which wasn't that much more expensive. If people are willing to do this, how many actually weren't willing to wait and pirated the film instead? Not talking about The Lion King, as most will already have that in one way or another, but specifically about PotC: On Stranger Tides. And by not making the money earlier, that's a loss too, what with interest and everything (well, maybe not in the US, with your low interest rates).

[dr_ml422]

Ok so it could be said they lost a little earlier, though as has been pointed out numerous times, how can you lose out on something that wasn't going to be bought anyway. In this case since the stats show sales occurring after the DVD release, then it's safe to say they just would have bought it earlier have there been a DVD release apart from the combo. I think it was still a smart move by Warner because those on the fence prolly went ahead and snatched the combo being it was not that much more. If both formats had come out then who knows how much it would have taken away from the Blu-ray market share.

Pretty soon it's just inevitable that Blu-ray will be primary, especially as most convert to another Hi-Def format anyway for use on a alternative platform like smartfones etc... It would be the online services etc... that would play a major part on this as it's kind of the old double work buying one format to convert to another anyway. Yes the original is the backup, though I'd rather have a hi-def backup ready than a DVD for future encoding. My 2 cents.

I snatched TLOTR trilogy for $7.99 each Blu-ray back when it came out. Common sense which isn't common anymore makes that a no brainer. Put that together w/most players being Blu-ray/DVD compatible and affordable makes it even more of a simple decision.

[admin]

It's good for the Blu-ray format, for sure, the combos, especially the ones in DVD packaging are like a "Trojan Horse". Once you have some Blu-ray movies, it's only natural you will want a player, and with prices quite low these days. Sorry, it was actually Disney that did this, not Warner.

The things is, I'm still not sure if studios want DVD to simply go away. With DVD still around, they can keep having two pricing levels, a "budget" DVD version, and a "premium" Blu-ray/combo that costs more (in actual fact, the difference in manufacturing cost is practically negligible, it's only the licensing that could make Blu-ray a bit more expensive). It creates artificial value, but consumer demand will eventually drive everything down again anyway (just in time for another new format?)

[dr_ml422]

Well as far as a new format since Ultraviolet is basically a failure, and if considered a newer format, then what's cooking? I would think someone and definitely you would have caught some info on anything new or in the works. I can't think of what would be so much different than Blu-ray and better. Only thing I can think of is not so much better, though conducive to what many are already doing. That is conversion to more popular used formats like .MP4/.MKV etc... and sold as that. I mean there would be more room on a blank DVD-9 disc to accomodate several movies and at hi-def one really can't go wrong. Sounds a little crazy though maybe just sticking to existing and working solutions on the same physical disc might prove worthy.

3-D is mostly a flop so I have no idea what's next.

[admin]

I actually think Blu-ray may be the last physical disc format, but you never know. Maybe it will be 1440p or 2160p ultra-resolution, and so requiring 150GB+ discs, but there's diminishing returns from ever higher resolutions unless TV sizes increase (80"+).

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 3rd December 2011, here are the stats:

Percentage of revenue:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 24.19% vs 75.81%

Blu-ray sales total spending: $55.52 million
DVD sales total spending: $173.97 million

These stats available from here:

Home Media Magazine



Top 10:

The post Black Friday sales dip for 2011 appears to be steeper than that of 2010, despite the release of The Smurfs.

The Smurfs was easily the week's top selling Blu-ray, but otherwise, it was a pretty light week in terms of new releases.

Friends with Benefits was the only other new release in the Blu-ray top 10, although '30 Minutes or Less' did make the combined discs top 10, and 'Smallville: The Complete Tenth Season' was also a new release.

Otherwise, the top 10 Blu-ray sales charts were still dominated by Black Friday sales items (ie. older releases that have recently been discounted).

This time last year, the (then) new Twilight Saga movie was released, along with 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' and 'Knight and Day', occupying the top 4 Blu-ray sales spots, and this can help to explain the larger dip.

The complete top 10 chart is below (new releases in bold, and Blu-ray exclusives are denoted by *):

1. The Smurfs
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
3. Lion King
4. Inception
5. X-Men: First Class
6. Transformers: Dark of the Moon
7. Cars 2
8. * The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy
9. Friends with Benefits
10. Super 8

Market Share:

'The Smurfs' managed a first week Blu-ray market share of 42%, which is a respectable result. The 3D version had a market share of 7% - make of that what you will, but it seems low to me. It's not helped by Sony's inclusion of 'The Smurfs: Christmas Carol' exclusively in the non 3D bundle.

'Friends With Benefits' didn't make the top 20 market share charts, with 34% market share. '30 Minutes or Less' did make the top 20 though, with 37.14%. 'Smallville: The Complete Tenth Season' managed 21%.

You can see the Blu-ray top 20 market share chart here:

Top 20 Blu-ray Market Share Chart

Year on Year Comparison

The stats for the week ending 4th December 2010 are as follows (you can see stats and analysis for the week ending 5th December 2010 here - note that data has since been revised, and the reporting period has changed as well, but this historical data is still useful for comparison purposes).

Blu-ray vs DVD: 19.79% vs 80.21%

Blu-ray: $59.19 million
DVD: $239.96 million

Both DVD and Blu-ray sales decreased compared to the same week last year, for the reasons that I've already mentioned above. Blu-ray sales decreased by $3.67m (down 6.2%), while DVD sales decreased by $65.99m (down 27.5%) producing an overall loss of $69.66 million in combined revenue.

Blu-ray's market share still managed to increase thanks to DVD losses being bigger. Market share increased from 19.79% to 24.19% (a growth of 22.23%).

[admin]

Stats:

For the week ending 10th December 2011, here are the stats:

Percentage of revenue:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 24.38% vs 75.62%

Blu-ray sales total spending: $78.63 million
DVD sales total spending: $243.85 million

These stats available from here:

Home Media Magazine



Top 10:

Four (somewhat debatable) A-List releases helped push disc revenue up compared to one of the highest in 2011, but Blu-ray market share remained relatively flat compared to last week, thanks to two of those releases achieving a below average Blu-ray market share.

The week's top selling movie, on all discs, was actually The Help, but it did comparatively poorly on Blu-ray, so much so, that it was pushed to third place on the Blu-ray only charts.

The Hangover II, instead, benefited from the help given to it by The Help's poor Blu-ray figures, and climbed to the top of the Blu-ray charts, followed closely by Cowboys & Aliens.

The most arguable A-lister in the quartet was Mr. Popper's Penguins, flying in at 6th place.

The Debt, another new release, did not make the Blu-ray top 10, coming in at 17th.

The complete top 10 chart is below (new releases in bold, and Blu-ray exclusives are denoted by *):

1. The Hangover II
2. Cowboys & Aliens
3. The Help
4. The Smurfs
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
6. Mr. Popper's Penguins
7. Super 8
8. Lion King
9. Cars 2
10. Captain America: The First Avenger

Market Share:

As mentioned earlier, Blu-ray market share remained relatively flat despite a rise in revenue. This was largely down to The Help, which only recorded a Blu-ray market share of 24%. Mr. Popper's Penguins did even worse, with only 19%.

This contrasts with the 44.28% recorded for The Hangover II, and the 54.73% for Cowboys & Aliens.

Interestingly, none of the new releases this week were available on Blu-ray 3D.

You can see the Blu-ray top 20 market share chart here:

Top 20 Blu-ray Market Share Chart

Year on Year Comparison

The stats for the week ending 11th December 2010 are as follows (you can see stats and analysis for the week ending 12th December 2010 here - note that data has since been revised, and the reporting period has changed as well, but this historical data is still useful for comparison purposes).

Blu-ray vs DVD: 20.55% vs 79.45%

Blu-ray: $77.47 million
DVD: $299.57 million

We once again get back in the normal pattern of Blu-ray revenue rising, albeit every so slightly this week, and DVD revenue rising, compared to the same week from last year. Blu-ray sales increased by $1.16m (up 1.5%), while DVD sales decreased by $55.72m (down 18.6%) producing an overall loss of $54.56 million in combined revenue.

Blu-ray's market share increased from 20.55% to 24.38% (a growth of 18.64%).