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

[admin]

Just to clarify, the "top 20 by volume" figure is the disc volume, whereas the "all sales by volume" is $ volume. The top 20 by volume number is actually not all that indicative, because the majority of DVDs sold I suspect is probably not in the top 20 of sales (lots of small quantity sales of a large selection of movies). And the "all sales by $ volume" is not all that useful as well, because Blu-ray movies being more expensive than DVD, it does not actually tell us anything about the actual number of discs sold.

The 7.2m vs 500k figure for Iron Man is probably the only solid figures available for analysis, and it shows the DVD/BD at about 14:1 (or BD having 7% of sales by disc volume). Because Iron Man represented the best titles ever on Blu-ray, one can speculate that a normal title would carry considerably less % in terms of Blu-ray sales. So in actual fact, the disc volume % for total Blu-ray sales may be closer to 5% than 8%. But until Nielsen or HMM publishes the total disc volume data, one can only guess at these sort of things.

[dr_ml422]

Oh I get it. It won't be completely clear as to how Blu-ray is doing compared to DVD and vice versa until the actual amount of discs sold by both is posted.

Have to admit went to BB again this past week and they had Iron Man on display on a sp3 w/a sony 1080p and it did look great. Almost 3-D it seemed.

They're desperate though because they're trying to get you to commit to putting $$$ down on pre-orders of Blu-ray, especially of the upcoming Dark Knight that was pushed back to December. Figure they're thinking of even greater sales because of the holidays. Good luck especially w/the economy the way it is. Even though when someone wants something even like Blu-ray they'll get it regardless.

Iron Man was pushed up in coming out before the Hulk in DVD and Blu-ray and The Hulk came out before Iron Man in the movies. A little marketing as always. They're trying. An affordable price would suffice to this whole revolution. They could do it. I mean really how much does it cost them for let's say 10 or 20 million blanks. DVD especially which could also come down and not just after a couple of months.

Unrelated but along the same lines is CD prices. And they want to know why people are going to the net to get their stuff.

[admin]

Yes, it's hard to compared disc volume with $ volume, and with one figure for only the top 20 titles, and another for all titles. This kind of confusion does favour Blu-ray, because if you compared $ volume for all titles, then Blu-ray will certainly have a higher percentage than if you compared disc volume for all titles. Similarly, disc volume for top 20 titles also favour Blu-ray because most of Blu-ray sales occur in the top 20 segment, whereas DVD is more spread out.

I posted this in another news thread, but the cost of making Blu-ray is only about $3 for 10,000 units (including licensing, packaging, printing ...). But to be fair, at least on Amazon, the cost of the 2-disc special edition of fairly new releases versus the cost of the Blu-ray version is similar, usually only $2 more for the BD version (some, like I Am Legend, is actually cheaper on Blu-ray). Blu-ray is the studio's last hope to fight off any recession effects, so I don't think they can or will lower prices in the short term.

[dr_ml422]

Only time will tell then as far as a new format replacing Blu-ray. Looks like it might be heading that way. Saw the prices on some PS3s. They were around the $400 still. Oh well a day at a time w/all this. This thread is good though because you see how it's fairing except for disc volume and $volume.

[admin]

For the week ending 12th October 2008, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 10% vs 90%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 46.44% compared to last week, total spending: $14.37 million (10.23%)
DVD sales down 16.67% compared to last week, total spending: $126.10 million (89.77%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom373554CVB/index.php?startid=1#/2

As expected, a big drop post Iron Man, although some lingering effects are still visible.

[admin]

Only time will tell then as far as a new format replacing Blu-ray. Looks like it might be heading that way. Saw the prices on some PS3s. They were around the $400 still. Oh well a day at a time w/all this. This thread is good though because you see how it's fairing except for disc volume and $volume.

The PS3 got spanked by the much cheaper Xbox 360 in September sales. Sony's insistence on not dropping prices will hurt them this holiday season. Although I suspect they are partially keeping the PS3 expensive due to their need to promote Blu-ray standalones, which, if the figures in Australia are anything to go by, are not selling well at all. Only 7.5% of all Blu-ray players in Australia are standalones, the rest are all PS3s which may/may not be used regularly for viewing Blu-ray. This also means that only 1.275% of HDTV owners have standalone Blu-ray players in Australia! (And I'm not in that 1.275%, even though I have two devices capable of Blu-ray playback)

[admin]

For the week ending 19th October 2008, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 11% vs 89%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales up 24.81% compared to last week, total spending: $17.94 million (12.18%)
DVD sales up 2.63% compared to last week, total spending: $129.41 million (87.82%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom788146PBP/index.php?startid=1#/2

Another good week for Blu-ray, thanks to Indy 4 and the Blu-ray exclusive Matrix Trilogy pack (The Ultimate Matrix Collection) and the first time on BD, Sleeping Beauty. Iron Man was still 2nd on the top 10 list. More information here:

http://www.blu-raystats.com/NewsLog/2008/10/27/blu-ray-revenue-and-market-share-improve-for-week-ending-october-19/

[admin]

For the week ending 26th October 2008, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 12% vs 88%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 1.26% compared to last week, total spending: $17.71 million (12.57%)
DVD sales down 4.83% compared to last week, total spending: $123.16 million (87.43%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom788146PBP/index.php?startid=1#/2

This week's releases include quite a few classic Bond movies on Blu-ray, and the 2 disc edition of Casino Royale. The biggest new releases were The Incredible Hulk and The Strangers, but last two week's big releases were still selling strong (Indy 4, Iron Man):

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom854169KDX/index.php?startid=10

[dr_ml422]

BB's going all out trying to sell the public on Blu-ray. They've put about 3 Sony hdtv's up in the place I go to in addition to the one you see as soon as you walk in w/the ps3 hooked up to it. They're trying hard to get you to commit to buying the upcoming titles by asking you to put something down ahead of time. They tell you it's just in case the new titles sell quickly and there won't be any. Well, not everyone is on top of this whole Blu-ray thing and plugged into a forum like this to know the real deal.

Admin, did you say that Sony might ride this for about 5 more yrs. or so until a definitive decision is made about a new format? Sounds pretty long, especially how both the players and discs are still so expensive. Most businesses ride something for about 2yrs. before either closing shop or reinventing themselves. Then again Sony's loaded, so who knows what they're willing to cut as losses and for how long.

No one can invent a new format w/out Sony's consent? Or just matter of time? Can't fathom Sony having a lock on new patents and a different format from someone like Toshiba for instance.

Right now I'd be looking at about $400 or so for a ps3, $1000 or more for a decent hdtv, and upgrading to hd cable which as of now is just compressed and not true hidef as Time Warner's still here. Verizon's opening up the streets and installing true fiber optic w/their Fios. So even though I've seen how clear, and exceptional the picture is on Blu-ray, it's still not feasable for me $$$ wise to jump on it. I'm going to have to jump on the fios cable but that's because of the change on the 19th and Fios is better anyway.

The catch? Fios I think has more hidef channels, but Time Warner has some popular ones locked down and won't give them up, as does Cable Vision also.

[admin]

Sony's PS3 strategy is a 10 year one, and they expect Blu-ray to reach 50% of the market (compared to DVD) by 2012, or 4 years from now. Anyone can come up with a new format in this time though, and it doesn't even have to be an optical format. Toshiba wants people to use 32GB flash memory to download HD movies from kiosks/stores, and also to get DVD 2.0 out that may have a standard for upscaling and digital copies (many studios are doing this already, but there isn't a common format). Netflix wants an Internet based streaming service with a dedicated hardware player. The cable companies want what they want. Apple want online downloads, and integration with Apple TV. Microsoft probably has something planned too, although they are going along with Netflix for now to get video streaming going on the Xbox 360.

I think the next 4 years will be very interesting indeed, and we will find out by the end of it whether the traditional optical disc based distribution method is still the best one or not.

[locoeng]

Sony's PS3 strategy is a 10 year one, and they expect Blu-ray to reach 50% of the market (compared to DVD) by 2012, or 4 years from now. Anyone can come up with a new format in this time though, and it doesn't even have to be an optical format. Toshiba wants people to use 32GB flash memory to download HD movies from kiosks/stores, and also to get DVD 2.0 out that may have a standard for upscaling and digital copies (many studios are doing this already, but there isn't a common format). Netflix wants an Internet based streaming service with a dedicated hardware player. The cable companies want what they want. Apple want online downloads, and integration with Apple TV. Microsoft probably has something planned too, although they are going along with Netflix for now to get video streaming going on the Xbox 360.

I think the next 4 years will be very interesting indeed, and we will find out by the end of it whether the traditional optical disc based distribution method is still the best one or not.

I can understand the need to expand the possibilities available to the public, but honestly between the cable company, satellite, Netflix, AppleTV and whoever else has something planned for development leaves us with more choices than what we need. You'll find consumers holed up in these niche markets separated from everyone else scratching their heads wondering why the dude across the street has something that they don't. What we have needs to be improved upon instead of heading in different directions. Streaming media, to me, would be the pits...especially once all the ISP's decide that the bandwidth being used is too large and they start throttling your grandmother for watching a few streaming flicks...or better yet, create a cell phone rate-type package for buying your monthly usage that will be priced out of reach by a lot of people. I know the throttling and price gouging is already taking place, but not all are doing it...yet. Give me my media in a format that I can put my hands on. Whatever happened to WebTV?

[dr_ml422]

I can understand the need to expand the possibilities available to the public, but honestly between the cable company, satellite, Netflix, AppleTV and whoever else has something planned for development leaves us with more choices than what we need. You'll find consumers holed up in these niche markets separated from everyone else scratching their heads wondering why the dude across the street has something that they don't. What we have needs to be improved upon instead of heading in different directions. Streaming media, to me, would be the pits...especially once all the ISP's decide that the bandwidth being used is too large and they start throttling your grandmother for watching a few streaming flicks...or better yet, create a cell phone rate-type package for buying your monthly usage that will be priced out of reach by a lot of people. I know the throttling and price gouging is already taking place, but not all are doing it...yet. Give me my media in a format that I can put my hands on. Whatever happened to WebTV?

I have no idea what DVD 2.0 is about and aside from a reasonable inkling of other formats besides optical discs, don't know how they can possibly make things affordable, efficient, and for lack of a better word simple. You're right the average Joe doesn't even know what's going on now let alone what might be in store in the near future. The 32gb thing and streaming might pan out for those who know and like that, but it's a fact not everyone has a computer period. If they do they most likely don't have the more reliable or faster service to even get a quality download. It'll sure be scattered w/those w/the $$$ and knowledge about the industry and those that just want to get a disc in their hands and slap it into a player, no matter what kind. I know Google's my friend, but any of you have a link to where one can go find out about all these things in the works regarding this whole format/hi-def digital revolution? I know I could go to AD and start cruising their newsletters, which I get every week but don't do. Time is what mainly is needed to keep informed and on top of all this.

[admin]

For the week ending 2nd November 2008, here are the stats:

Percentage of Top 20 titles by disc volume:
Blu-ray vs DVD: 8% vs 92%

All sales by $ volume (Percentage of Total Sales):
Blu-ray sales down 31% compared to last week, total spending: $12.22 million (9.37%)
DVD sales down 3.98% compared to last week, total spending: $118.26 million (90.63%)

You can read the latest digital edition of HMM with the above stats here:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom373645CXZ/index.php?startid=3

This week's only major release of note is "Journey to the Center of the Earth", and even that only sold a small amount over last week's "The Incredible Hulk". Both Iron Man (4th) and Transformers (8th) continue to be in the top 10.

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/questex/hom373645CXZ/index.php?startid=10

[dr_ml422]

"Get Smart' came out also, but I don't know if on Blu-ray. A little comedy comes in handy for a change. Finally went to the HMM site. Lots of news there. Is that like one of the most informed concerning media?

[admin]

I think Get Smart is in next week's figures (for the week ending 9th Nov, as Get Smart was released on the 4th). Next week looks like another slow one, with Get Smart the major release, plus some Planet of the Apes movies.

Kung Fu Panda, Band of Brothers, Hellboy II, Firefly are being released this week (we'll get the figures in 2 week's time), so the numbers should go up considerably.

This is the site I use to sort Blu-ray releases by release date:

http://www.blu-raystats.com/Stats/Stats.php?OrderBy=Released

HMM is a pretty good website, a great source for Blu-ray sales data. My only wish is that they include disc volume, not just the $ volume figures for total sales.