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

Towergrove

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Patrick Donahue said:
Well folks, we've officially had a quarter where consumers have spent more on digital streaming options than physical options - $2.1bil to $2.0bil.
Not just digital streaming options these figures also include download to own and electronic sell thru.
 

Towergrove

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Patrick Donahue said:
Well folks, we've officially had a quarter where consumers have spent more on digital streaming options than physical options - $2.1bil to $2.0bil.


Hopefully for lovers of physical media, UHD will provide a boost to swing that ratio back, but it's a milestone to be noted, for sure...


http://www.homemediamagazine.com/research/deg-home-entertainment-spending-slightly-first-half-2015-while-digital-outpaced-physical-q2
One other item to point out. If they are going to count total figures for RENTAL STREAMING on the digital non physical side shouldnt they also add the RENTAL PHYSICAL numbers into the equation for the physical side of things? To me if they are counting rentals both digital as well as physical should be listed. The numbers would be back on the physical media side of this were to happen.
 

Sam Posten

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Towergrove said:
Not just digital streaming options these figures also include download to own and electronic sell thru.

Aren't those EST separate in the 941m figure in the next paragraph?


Is Amazon prime counted as a streaming subscription?
 
P

Patrick Donahue

Aren't those EST separate in the 941m figure in the next paragraph?

Is Amazon prime counted as a streaming subscription?
Sam, the $2.1bil figure includes EST, but the $941m figure is just showing how much EST is of that by itself.


I believe Amazon Prime isn't included in the numbers about how much consumers spent, because it's impossible to know how much of the $99 went to video vs. any of the other Prime benefits... in my case free shipping on Blu's :) I think we get Prime numbers included when we discuss how much revenue studios make off of licensing their content.
 
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Patrick Donahue

Towergrove said:
One other item to point out. If they are going to count total figures for RENTAL STREAMING on the digital non physical side shouldnt they also add the RENTAL PHYSICAL numbers into the equation for the physical side of things? To me if they are counting rentals both digital as well as physical should be listed. The numbers would be back on the physical media side of this were to happen.

The spreadsheet showing all the numbers includes entires for brick and mortar rental and kiosk rental
 

bruceames

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EST has now passed Blu-ray in revenue ($940 million vs. $850 million). Didn't think it would happen so soon.


EST is now 25% of sell through, thru the first six months of the year. Last year it was 18%. That's a very significant jump.


Lots of huge blockbusters coming out this fall though, which I think will help physical media. However if the studio give very generous early release


windows to EST (such as Avenger coming out 25 days early on EST), then it may help EST even more. Will be very interesting to see...
 

Jesse Skeen

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Because it's a ploy to push people into it, just as DIVX had desirable titles on it that weren't on regular DVD for at least a few months afterwards. If "digital" was really that great, it would sell well enough on its own without needing an early advantage over discs.
 

Towergrove

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Jesse Skeen said:
Because it's a ploy to push people into it, just as DIVX had desirable titles on it that weren't on regular DVD for at least a few months afterwards. If "digital" was really that great, it would sell well enough on its own without needing an early advantage over discs.
When DVD first arrived studios were releasing the DVD before the VHS in some cases. How is this any different than that? We know how the DVD success story played dont we.
 
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Patrick Donahue

Towergrove said:
When DVD first arrived studios were releasing the DVD before the VHS in some cases. How is this any different than that? We know how the DVD success story played dont we.
Yes, we do know how it played out. DVD replaced VHS because the studios were successful in pushing consumers into the new format in part because of the early release windows...

...which is what they are currently doing with Digital HD.

Mind you I am not ok with that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Blu's in the Kino sale to order :)
 

bruceames

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It's the movies themselves that sell, not because they're on X format. For hot new releases, consumers will naturally gravitate to whatever is available first on a regular basis. Another point is that's it's easier to make a digital streaming file available much sooner than having it pressed and distributed on disc.


So even if studios weren't trying to play favorites and push digital out sooner, they would likely release digital first just because it's ready to go.
 

bruceames

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Robert Crawford said:


Not surprising to me since I have 3 of them. :) I wonder if multi-use devices like streaming Blu-ray players are included? I doubt it considering that the four devices mentioned in the article account for 86% of the total.
 

Towergrove

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bruceames said:
It's the movies themselves that sell, not because they're on X format. For hot new releases, consumers will naturally gravitate to whatever is available first on a regular basis. Another point is that's it's easier to make a digital streaming file available much sooner than having it pressed and distributed on disc.


So even if studios weren't trying to play favorites and push digital out sooner, they would likely release digital first just because it's ready to go.
Bruce I too believe its the movies that sell not the format they are on. I only want to be able to purchase not rent the films and TV that I choose to own for my collection and we are getting that now in various formats and options. Really if you look back over time and past history of the mediums we are in a great time period now as a consuming buyer of media with the palette of choices we now have.
 

bruceames

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Towergrove said:

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:


In case you missed it, the survey, of 6,000 consumers in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Australia, found that more than 50% still regularly buy either Blu-ray Disc or DVD. And in the United States and the United Kingdom, the percentage of people buying discs has actually gone up from an earlier survey.
That supports the notion I’ve held that the primary reason we’re seeing such big drops in disc-sale revenues is a sharp drop in the average sales price
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.

[SIZE=12.4800004959106px]I’m also noticing a growing sense of optimism among industry insiders about a likely resurgence in popularity for the Blu-ray Disc, fueled by the advent of Ultra HD. [/SIZE]
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.
 

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