TV show Top DVD sales (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

I accept that the demographic is predominately female, but I watch, along with my wife and I know a good many men who do as well. True enough that this forum is mostly male, but if you check out the TV area, you will find a good number of males who comment on Sex and the City favorably.

I would guess (without any factual data) that both Friends and Dawson’s Creek draw more female than male viewers. Buffy has a very big female following (though you might not guess it from this forum’s threads).

 

[Kevin Royal]

You'd be surprised. I'm a huge fan, and so are most of my close guy friends. It's a show that, as Lew showed, couples can enjoy together, or guys can watch with their close girl friends.

Oh, and if you're not watching, you're missing out...give it a shot.

KR

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I don't have HBO but caught a few episodes of SatC at a hotel once and was hooked. I buy each season on release date and watch them all within days, or evening for the short season 5. The show is well written, well acted, humorous and full of adult humor and plenty of T&A for guys.

Oh yeah, I'm a single, 24 year old male.

 

[Tom B]

I didn't intend to divert this post into a discussion of the merits of Sex in the City. I'm sure many people like it women and men. Personally I have seen it and don't care for it. That doesn't mean it's a bad show, just not my cup of tea. I don't like American Idol, the Backstreet Boys, Dawson's Creek and a lot of other extremely popular shows / groups. I'm not the target market for them, and I can live with that.

I doubt the demographic for SITC is men. However, that does not mean some men don't watch it. I watch "Decorating your House" (or whatever those shows are called) with my wife, but I'm probably not who advertisers are hoping to reach when they buy thier commercial time.

I'm still amazed Sex in the City sells as well as it does because I would bet MOST men do not care for it.
Tom

 

[John Berggren]

I think it's clear that Paramount should re-evaluate their Star Trek pricing strategy. I myself won't be buying DS9 or Voyager because of the pricing, and I don't know when I'll get around to getting TNG.

DVD is an opportunity for them to increase the fan base for Star Trek, and maintain the existing fanbase. They're having trouble keeping people interested in Enterprise and the films (though the quality of the new product can be contested) but they are keeping their back catalog out of reach or out of interest for a vast number of potential buyers.

There are many series on DVD that I've never had an interest in prior to their release. But a good price coupled with quality presentation has made me a fan of Stargate SG-1 and Babylon 5, and that's just sci-fi. I may even like both of them better than TNG, which is speaking volumes since I adore TNG.

I try many new series on DVD now. I've become a great fan of 24, Buffy, Alias, Angel, and many other programs because of DVD. I think it's time for Paramount to take notice.

They are losing sales opportunities and the opportunity to enhance the franchise.

 

[Joshua_W]

I don't know that that is true.

I think that Star Trek, as a franchise, has burned out.

Go to a bookstore -- a certainly non-wired place, and where ten years ago there were numerous guides -- both official and unofficial -- to Star Trek, now they're replaced by Buffy the Vampire Slayer books of the same stripe. To an extent, I think X-Files burned itself out as well by letting the quality take a nosedive in later seasons. And Warners doesn't really seem to know what to do with B5, so we don't get a lot of books from them.

If Star Trek's online presence is lacking, it's probably because the show peaked before the 'net became as big as it did. Everything about Star Trek that needed to be discussed has already been discussed many times before. Everyone who wanted to see Star Trek -- in whatever incarnation -- has already seen it, many times. But there are still people discovering BTVS and B5 for the first time, either through lower-priced DVDs or reruns.

And that the last two Trek series -- Voyager and Enterprise -- have been, by most accounts, rejected by its own fanbase, don't bode well for the series, either. I loved TNG and DS9, but I detested Voyager and haven't seen Enterprise. And even though I liked TNG and DS9, I'm not going to go out and drop $1400.00 on them.

 

[Bill Buklis]

I'll second that. I think Warner has seriously undermarketed the show right from the beginning and continues to do so. But, to be fair, during it's first couple seasons of its initial run, it seemed like B5 was always in Star Trek's shadow. A lot of people had trouble understanding it because it didn't fit well with Trek. Rules were broken, etc. Well, B5 isn't the Trek universe.

I think if Babylon 5 came out today, it might've had a better chance of gaining wider initial acceptance. Star Trek isn't the be all-end all of sci-fi anymore.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

At my Bestbuy they are on the shelves with all the rest of the TV Boxsets. If fact I went in this past weekend and Season 4 was already out and the release date wasnt until yesterday.
I do have to say that their price wasnt real competive so I ended up buying it on Amazon.

I too have begun watching a few shows on DVD that I didn't see on prodcast TV. One is 24 which I am addicted to and Babylon 5 which I am sorry I missed when it was on years ago. It's everything that Sci Fi should be and everything that Trek and the last two Star Wars movies have been lacking, good Drama and great well rounded characters.

There are two other series that I would like to try out
that I never got to see and that The Sopranos and Oz.
Those will be Next.
Oh, cant wait for an old Favorite, Lost in Space which is coming out next week.
I just wish that Mary Tyler Moore had had more of an impact in the market.

 

[RickER]

My favorite show on DVD....Farscape, my friends! I guess its getting a new TV movie/ conclusion too. I am sure that has something to do with DVD sales. That show HAS to be seen on DVD...miss 1 episode and your lost.

 

[David Lambert]

Interesting conversation. I'm going to mostly sit back and watch, but I have one observation to make about pricing of TNG (and it probably pertains to X-Files, too).

If Paramount dropped the price of TNG right now, then it would cost them sales of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. A significant number of folks who are still collecting the DS9 sets and intend to collect STV sets will immediately decide to wait on their purchase "until the price drop".

If I were in Paramount's shoes, I wouldn't plan on dropping prices on TNG until mid-2005. That's six months after the final box sets are on shelfs for STV and TOS, and they have gotten full price for as much of that as they can.

While Paramount certainly doesn't share their marketing strategies with little ol' me, that's the sort of thing I would be looking for them to do. Don't count on it before then. And it may be long after then...who knows?

 

[John Berggren]

I see your point, David, but I think they need to drop the initial prices of these sets as well as the sets that have already been released.

I think the new Voyager sets should carry at most a $99 MSRP price tags on release date.

Warner made the change with FRIENDS when they knew the sets would sell in greater volumes at a lower MSRP. Note that Friends made the Amazon list in 4 slots, including season 1 which had previously carried the higher price tag.

 

[CameronS]

When the TNG sets first came out, I planned to own them ALL. I want to own them all. TNG has got to be my favorite show of all time. After that, I'm getting DS9 for sure. I missed over half of that show during its original run and I want to give it another shot on DVD.

After all this time, guess how far I've gotten? I own TNG Seasons 1 and 2. And I got Season 2 with super low price. I just don't have the budget for all of them right now, especially with other TV shows I want (Simpsons, South Park) being priced at a much more appealing $40 or so.

If Star Trek sets were price cut, I would be ecstatic and I would start buying more of them immediately.

 

[Lloyd White]

Yep, I had to choose between TNG and DS9. The biggest reason that kept me from getting TNG was the actual quality of the video doesn't hold up that well on HDTV's. Since it is impossible to get super high quality versions of that show, combined with them blowing out episodes by the ton on Spike TV, and the high price, I had to skip them except Season 1.

Seems like all the shows I like command pretty high prices, X-Files, DS9, Sopranos. Certainly I wouldn't buy a new series at the same prices, as they would be lower resolution versions of the HD original broadcast. Though, maybe we shouldn't look at these sales lists just from a quantity standpoint, but a dollar standpoint. That ratio is probably doing Fox and Paramount just fine.

 

[Lew Crippen]

No doubt the Star Trek sets are priced very high (high enough that I don’t own any), but to add to David’s point, there is a very old marketing strategy that goes:

‘Sell all you can at $100, then sell all you can at $80, then sell all you can at $50, etc.’

I’m guessing (along with David, I expect) that Paramount does not yet think they have sold all they can at $100. Or at least reducing current prices will cut into the sales of Voyager sets at $100.

I think we can expect a reduction after they have sold all they can (of Voyager) at $100.

 

[Malcolm R]

I didn't think Paramount set a SRP for the Star Trek sets. I thought was just the price point chosen by retailers?

 

[John Berggren]

They did not set an SRP, which was a mistake in the first place. However, the retailers all seem to be asking about the same price. This is likely based on their cost from Paramount as compared to other series (being more in line with X-files than Buffy TVS).

It's certainly their business to sell them any way they want, but I think there is clear evidence that many people who would normally buy them are not, because of the restrictive pricing.

BTW: I managed to get to Season 4 of TNG. DS9 was a maybe for me, and Voyager the same. I doubt I buy any further sets until a better price point develops.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

You really think they would reduce the price? I havent seen any reductions with their other Trek product.
I dont imagine that Voygaer is going to sell real well because of the quality of the series over all.
I dont know any fans that are dying to get the set.

This is one show I would rather buy by episode because there were only a handful of episodes I would actually watch again.
There's not enough character development or any type of story archs to warrant repeat viewing.

This is an example of how Paramount doesnt pay attention to the fans.

 

[John Berggren]

Does anyone have access to a top 100 overall TV-on-DVD sales for 2003?
I'd be interested in knowing what the official totals are. I'd be more interested in the volumes, or at least the volume for #1 and #100. I know that DVDFile publishes a weekly top 10 for general releases, but does anyone have access to more comprehensive information?
This would be an interesting feature for TVShowsonDVD (hint) .

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I believe Amazon has one. Thats where the original list came from.

 

[John Berggren]

I'm sorry, I was unclear.
I would like to see a top 100 list comprised only of TV on DVD product. I would like it to be an overal R1 top 100, and not just from a single retailer. I think it would be really interesting.
Top 100 releases for TV on DVD in 2003.