Why are DVD sales figures kept such a secret? (1 Viewer)

[Hank Dearborn]

You hear all of the time in music about how many copies CDs sold. They always write that such and such artist's CD sold xx copies. How come DVD sales are guarded like government secrets? I'm sure everyone here would love to know the sales figures of these so called failures that cause a series to cease.

 

[Bob Hug]

Hank, I remember some time ago that someone here at HTF posted a link to an article detailing the sales of Fox's release of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" showing some major drop-offs in sales with each subsequent season. But I can't recall where the article was located and, in fact, was the only time that I've ever seen specific sales figures for a TV title. If I recall correctly, the sales drop-offs for MTM were major and it was pretty apparent why Fox stopped releasing the show.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Hank, you win the prize for the 6M$ question (oops, yet another non-R1 release).

We've asked this one many times. It does seem to me that this data is guarded like NORAD's Launch Codes. It's hard for me to figure how some of the shows that have gone into the "one & done" hibernation cave merit that treatment.

What I'd be interested in is what the #'s would reveal regarding the split-season release trend.

Jeff "Logon: Joshua" W

 

[Brian Himes]

I also wish studios would be a little more forthcoming with this information. It would certainly help to understand why so many shows are abandoned.

As for Mary Tyler Moore, I think that Fox is just taking another 2+ year break from the show. I think that we will get the final 3 seasons of it and the final 2 of Bob Newhart. Look at what happened when Fox didn't release season 2 of Mary Tyler Moore. It generated sales of season 1 and peaked interest in season 2. Now season 2 sales must have been what was expected because we got season 3 and 4. Sure there was a drop off. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I do think we will get the final seasons of each shows eventually.

 

[Corey3rd]

Nobody gives gold and plat. DVD awards to the stars.

 

[Jay_B!]

I would like to see figures more often too. I think it would only benefit everyone involved. If you see that a show needs to sell a magic number of 50,000 copies to greenlight a season but to date has only sold 46,000, I think it would convince a lot of "fringe" fans who may have been putting the set off to go ahead and buy it.

There is absolutely nothing to lose by doing this, if anything, sales will be boosted for a lot of lesser-tier shows because the fans will know how many copies need to be sold to greenlight another season. Therefore those who want another season of 227 or Simon And Simon but don't have season 1 can go ahead and place their order knowing that they are helping out, and fans can even buy copies as presents for friends and family who might not have purchased the set but like it. Etc....

It isn't that hard to find out how many copies a CD sold, so the same should apply for DVD sets

 

[Ron McNabb]

Try www.the-numbers.com they have the figures for the 4 years.

 

[Ron McNabb]

Try www.the-numbers.com they have the figures for the 4 years.