Blu-ray sales spike following format war end
Posted on 27/03/08 11:46 by Seán Byrne                             
Blu-ray sales spike following format war end

Following the end of the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war, Blu-ray disc sales have made a significant growth with a few new titles now gaining around 10% of its sales on the Blu-ray format, going by this Hollywood Reporter article.  Walt Disney's Title "No Country for Old Men" on Blu-ray made up 9.8% of its total sales in just the first 5 days of hitting the shops, going by a Nielsen VideoScan First Alert.  The Fox title "Hitman", who's Blu-ray version reached #1 in Amazon's best selling Movies & TV category has generated 12.6% of its overall sales on Blu-ray alone since its March 11 release.

Before the format war ended, the most sales that any title made on a HD disc format was no more than 2% to 3% of its overall sales.  Tom Adams, a Home entertainment industry analyst reckons the ending of the format war has caused this spike in Blu-ray sales and expects this thread to continue throughout the year, particularly as more consumers purchase Blu-ray players and PS3 consoles.  Unlike the time when HD DVD was competing against Blu-ray, consumers can now purchase Blu-ray titles with confidence knowing there is no longer any confusion on which format to choose.

Blu-ray sales are estimated to reach $1 billion throughout 2008 according to Fox market researchers, compared to an estimated $300 million in total between Blu-ray and HD DVD sales in 2007.  Adams predicts that around 2.9 million homes will have Blu-ray players compared to just 500,000 last year.  The PS3 which also doubles up as a Blu-ray player is expected to reach 8.4 million homes by the end of 2008, up from 3.2 million in 2007.

Adams reckons that studios would like to increase their Blu-ray sales due to the higher price tag on Blu-ray discs, which means a higher revenue for the studios.  For example, the average newly released DVD is sold for $20.57 in its first three months, where the same Blu-ray version is sold for $31.31.  On the other hand, from what I can see, this large price difference may be a significant factor in putting many consumers off Blu-ray.  For example, there are many things consumers would rather spend $100 on than just 3 Blu-ray titles that may only get watched a few times each. 

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By johnzap, Thursday 27 March 2008 21:32
Uhmm, Blu-Ray sales spike, more and more players on homes, PS3 selling a lot more... I wonder where is the anti-Sony bunch??? Downloading HD content to avoid touching Blu-Ray? devil
By micro$soft (guest), Thursday 27 March 2008 23:13
johnzap wrote"I wonder where is the anti-Sony bunch??? Downloading HD content to avoid touching Blu-Ray?" You DEVIL...PMSL.
By greensabath, Monday 31 March 2008 04:21
I think this is where I stop buying discs. This is one reason why many say digital downloads are the future. Why spend thousands of dollars on discs and discs players when 10 years down the line, they are obsolete. I've have bought over 200 dvds, and now realize that there is no point in buying movies anymore. DVD only lasted 10 years. Granted, it will be in the marketplace for a long time still, but the studios will eventually abondon it if more people pick up on blu-ray. Now, the only way I see digital downloads progressing, is if it's a flat monthly fee to watch whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted. None of this pay-per-download crap. I understand why people complain about the quality of digital downloads as an obstactle. I agree, this is why I would just use digital downloads to watch everything that I don't need to see in 1080p HD. The only movies that I would be buying on discs, would be the ones that I would want to see in 1080p.
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