Q2 2015: The first time we've "crossed the line" (1 Viewer)

[Jesse Skeen]

Tom Arnold seems to be continually writing articles defending disc against the growth of digital.

He wrote an editorial last year about the trend of releasing movies early on digital and that it was promoting consumers to switch to that, as if it were a good thing. It included comments about how studios would like to phase out discs because of "manufacturing costs" etc and concluded it with "Keep it up guys, it's working." I posted a reply calling him out on it, and saying that I couldn't believe that in a publication geared towards media retailers he would write something that would essentially end their business. It was promptly deleted.

 

[Towergrove]

Tom Arnold seems to be continually writing articles defending disc against the growth of digital. I think he's overreacting for the most part.


A few things mentioned in that article worth commenting on:


Actually that's not really true. Unit discs sales have declined 13.0 percent so far this year (13.6 for Blu-ray and 12.8 percent for DVD), vs. 15.2 percent for revenue. So not much difference at all and certainly not the "primary reason we're seeing such big drops in disc-sale revenues". He also seems to lean on surveys too much escape the facts (sales figures) that are posted on his own website.
He is also obsessed with blaming it all on Netflix, but actually the decline in disc sales is mostly due to the growth of Digital HD. Netflix only has the older movies and those barely sell at all on disc anyway. Netflix affects mainly the rental side of discs, cable/sat subs and premium channels, and disc catalog sales to a certain extent. But new release has always been the bread and butter of disc sales, especially for Blu-ray. Catalog sales dried up long before Netflix streaming become popular.

I'm sorry, but this is just BS. I'm not sensing any optimism anywhere. He's just saying because, as a home media trade magazine, he has project optimism in his writings. But UHD BD is not going to create a resurgence in disc sales any more than Blu-ray did (disc sales continued to decline every year after Blu-ray came out) and likely a whole lot less. Especially now in a climate where digital is gaining momentum at disc's expense.

A few interesting tidbits in the media recently from two different and well respected media companies:


http://www.homemediamagazine.com/research/nielsen-73-consumers-still-buy-or-rent-movies-and-tv-shows-36483


http://www.homemediamagazine.com/research/report-digital-consumers-still-buying-discs-36477