Thread: Physical Discs Still a Top Revenue Stream for Hollywood

Despite all the streaming "doom and gloom", it seems that consumers are not ready to ditch physical media just yet. Marketing research firm NPD has just released a report that shows sales of DVD and Blu-ray discs was the top revenue maker for the movie industry in 2012.

Blu-ray alone brought in 61% of the total monies spent by consumers of home video in 2012. While this number is down from 64% in 2011, the NPD report attributed the drop to the consistently falling prices of Blu-ray discs as a whole.

“There is a significant base of video customers in the U.S. who continue to be comfortable with physical formats, and a large majority haven’t made the complete transition from discs to digital video,” stated Russ Crupnick, NPD Group media analyst. “For the time being, at least, consumers still like to own and rent movies and TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray, even in a world of where connected devices and digital rental, streaming and ownership options are becoming more accepted and commonplace.”

As far as digital distribution goes, there was a 2% rise in 2011 and an increase of 16% in 2012. Not surprising, Apple's iTunes was the leader in movie purchases and Redbox was the clear leader in video rentals. Video rentals from brick and mortar stores was down 22%. I bet we see the brick and mortar numbers take a significant nosedive this year as Blockbuster Video continues to close stores.

61% of total monies spent on a format with less than 30% total market share (depending on which stat you subscribe to). Hmmm. Do consumers prefer it? Sure, but are the numbers impressive? I bet not, as everything Hollywood related is sucking right now.

I prefer dvd quality to streaming quality. When streaming is equal or better to dvd quality, I will go 100% streaming, till then I still watch prime movies on dvd.

Originally Posted by TrippleJ

I prefer dvd quality to streaming quality. When streaming is equal or better to dvd quality, I will go 100% streaming, till then I still watch prime movies on dvd.

Oh, I think we're there. My HD streaming is vastly superior to DVD at present. I would say we're on par with broadcast HD in terms of streaming at this point.

Originally Posted by Andrew Robinson

Oh, I think we're there. My HD streaming is vastly superior to DVD at present. I would say we're on par with broadcast HD in terms of streaming at this point.

I wonder if that is determined by the ISP or the streaming service?

My streaming is acceptable but not DVD good!

Some streaming services, like Netflix, set the quality based on your network's available bandwidth. They say they are optimizing the stream to your network capabilities, or something to that effect.

I streamed my first movie about ten days ago. "Ultra Violet" on Cracke. I am sticking with Blu-ray. It brought home the dvd effect that is oft mentioned of streaming services.

Originally Posted by LanGood

I streamed my first movie about ten days ago. "Ultra Violet" on Cracke. I am sticking with Blu-ray. It brought home the dvd effect that is oft mentioned of streaming services.

If you can manage I'd check out Vudu's HDX quality streaming. That is the best I've seen, though if you don't (yet) have the bandwidth it may not be a viable solution. Just a suggestion.

I'm still a Bluray fan. I'm not against streaming but my bandwidth isn't ready yet.

BTW, Bluray discs are superior to DVD disk in scratch resistance and possibly longevity.