Home Entertainment revenue fell 3.2% in the third quarter, despite rental revenue increasing 9.9%, Blu-ray revenue up 66.3% and digital distribution rising by 18%.
Total disc sales (both Blu-ray and DVD) are down by 13.9%, suggesting that the $161 million that Blu-ray contributes (about 4% of all home entertainment revenue) cannot make up for the loss in DVD sales.
Even the impressive Blu-ray numbers were not as impressive compared to earlier in the year, where Blu-ray growth was 91%. However, the fourth quarter is where most of the action will be, and we have already seen huge numbers for releases like the Snow White, which will no doubt be repeated for Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, Transformers 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and a few other titles.
The rental and digital distribution numbers are encouraging though. New forms of DVD rental, such as Redbox (despite studio objections), plus Netflix and other digital distributors will, along with Blu-ray, be able to make up for losses in DVD eventually, but only if the studios cooperate, and do not simply choose to support the distribution method that makes them the most money.
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Blu-ray May 2008 to September 2009 analysis:
Total disc sales (both Blu-ray and DVD) are down by 13.9%, suggesting that the $161 million that Blu-ray contributes (about 4% of all home entertainment revenue) cannot make up for the loss in DVD sales.
Even the impressive Blu-ray numbers were not as impressive compared to earlier in the year, where Blu-ray growth was 91%. However, the fourth quarter is where most of the action will be, and we have already seen huge numbers for releases like the Snow White, which will no doubt be repeated for Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, Transformers 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and a few other titles.
The rental and digital distribution numbers are encouraging though. New forms of DVD rental, such as Redbox (despite studio objections), plus Netflix and other digital distributors will, along with Blu-ray, be able to make up for losses in DVD eventually, but only if the studios cooperate, and do not simply choose to support the distribution method that makes them the most money.
More:
Blu-ray May 2008 to September 2009 analysis: