Did you buy less DVDs/videos in 2006 than 2005?video, customer adventures, movies — by TDavid @ 11:23 pm PST
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Though I don’t have the exact numbers, I’m pretty certain our family didn’t buy less DVDs in 2006 than 2005. Our VHS purchase days are over and that seems to align with a recent study that a surprising $100 million VHS were still purchased in 2006. We’ve mostly divested our VHS collection except for family videos we’ve shot and still need to convert to digital.
DVD rentals rose strongly from 2005’s $6.5 billion to $7.5 billion, while DVD sales inched up from $16.3 billion in 2005 to $16.6 billion last year, according to figures due today from the Digital Entertainment Group, an industry trade group. Overall, $24.2 billion was spent on DVD and VHS, lower than in 2004 ($24.5 billion) and 2005 ($24.3 billion). VHS accounted for just $100 million in spending last year; as recently as 2004, VHS spending topped $3 billion.
$100 million is a lot for the clearly inferior and near dead VHS media format. I wonder if this is people raiding VHS bargain bins?
Tipping point for DVDs or no?
Does this study above show we’ve reached a tipping point for DVDs? I don’t think so. Too many DVD players out there and as I noted in last Thursday’s Hmmcast, the difference between DVD and Blu-Ray isn’t as dramatic as it is going from VHS to DVD.
I think the DVD format still has a good couple years, even if they aren’t selling more. There are still some great TV shows and seasons yet to be released, not to mention the new shows being developed.
With CES 2007 this week it will be interesting to see what developments come out as far as replacement media. I’ve already seen a post on the promise of a dual HD-DVD/Blu-Ray format player which if it is affordable (it won’t be in the forseeable future) it could help consumers decide on one over the other.
Right now, not counting the HDTV or cable, $500 will get you into HD-DVD (Xbox 360 + HD-DVD player or a standalone player) and about the same for Blu-Ray ($599 for PS3). Until either of these formats are available on players under $100 you can forget about any hope of widespread adoption. It’s the same thing with HDTVs which were supposed to already be here. We have seven TVs and two of them are HDTV and we like buying next generation technology. It’s like going from dial-up to broadband. It takes time meaured not in months, but years, and most people wait to buy these things until the prices come down.
I still think HD-DVD and Blu-Ray won’t be the next generation format. They will be at best an interim solution until something with moving parts comes into play like holographic storage. Sure I’ve said that before, but when there are no moving parts, when you and I can carry our entire movie collections around on data the size of a credit card, then we’ll have the next breakthrough in the format wars. What we have now with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray — and admittedly I don’t have an HD-DVD player yet — seems more like an intermission than a new movie.
What will your 2007 movie/TV purchases be like?
I predict we’ll buy less DVDs in 2007 than 2006, but not because we think the format is going away because we’ll be buying in different formats like renting movies through the Xbox Live Marketplace, the iTunes store for transfer to the iPod and perhaps even reinstating our Hollywood video unlimited rental plan. Oh and yes, we will probably buy an HD-DVD player and a few more Blu-Ray movies.
With a collection of DVDs around 500 and still growing, we’re watching this closely so we can sell most of our collection before the format starts to tank like it did with VHS. I don’t think this will be in 2007, but it’s possible we could be in the market to sell in late 2008 maybe.
What’s your story on the movie front? How many DVDs/VHS/Blu-Ray/HD-DVD did you buy in 2006? Was it more or less than 2005? What’s your outlook for purchases in 2007?
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great topic! i made an attempt at purchasing less in 2006, and for good reason… not counting my music/concert DVD’s, i have 300 in my collection. here’s my listal:
http://mikull.listal.com/owned/dvds
- i realized that i just wasn’t watching all of what i owned; and aside from a few really good movies i really want each year, i pretty much own every movie i love and would watch over and over in the future.
there are favorites and classics, and those guilty pleasures, sure. but all in all, it just doesn’t make sense collecting movies i might forget and/or never get around to again. it’s not to say they all are bad movies, but with on-demand, in-demand, cable- and everything else available, it doesn’t make sense to own so many. and on top of that, i don’t have enough time to watch 300+ movies repeatedly, especially when there’s many i will watch several times a year before touching one i haven’t watched in 2. there’s still about 25 VHS tapes i purchased years ago that i never replaced with DVD- and with no VCR in the house for at least 5 years now. Further still, there’s probably 30 or 40 DVD’s my wife purchased and never even watched. “Honey, why are you watching that on cable when we own it?” happens all the time.
well, i think i had myself convinced my impulse buys and collection of classics was necessary. i don’t regret what i have, or the thousands i’ve spent, but i know the buck has to stop somewhere. HD-DVD/Blu Ray is coming, and there’s probably a couple dozen movies i love that i would upgrade formats for (if and when a format and reasonable market is established) - but i agree the visual difference is negligible for the other 200+ in my collection.
so in the future: quality, not quantity. i don’t see DVD going away any time soon, especially with backwards compatibility in players. and even though the cheap DVD deals popping up each week are tempting, what’s the point to keep going? with digital cable going HD and monthly movie subscription services like Blockbuster and Netflix providing great deals, there’s a reality most common consumers will start to (hopefully) realize: the home movie experience really is quality and budget friendly choice, not personal quantity. the decline of the market for home media in 2006, i imagine, will continue in 2007. we all fell in love with the advent of true, quality home theater- but i really believe we’re starting see enough is enough.
Comment by mikull — January 8, 2007 @ 1:45 am PST
Definitely agree with quality not quantity, mkull, and you made good points. Looks like we both bought Halloween 25 years of Terror (bargain bin deal at Best Buy in our case, $6.99 I think, and was disappointed that it didn’t actually come with the movie).
To answer your “what’s the point to keep going?” To keep growing the collection and sell before the peak value drops. You should be able to get at least 50 cents on the dollar for your collection now at eBay (and possibly a little more if sold as a total collection). You can then start over and only buy quality like you want in a different format.
Our favorite DVDs to buy are probably complete TV seasons, I think, which at the lower end ($20) are a great bargain. The lame ones are the partial or best of TV seasons that are somewhat deceptively packaged. You have to check to make sure the word “complete” is listed somewhere on the box. Bought a few TV seasons where they weren’t actually complete.
Comment by TDavid — January 8, 2007 @ 9:14 am PST
I’m in the same “I own more than I watch” camp.
I *really* hate that they’re selling uncomplete TV seasons at the same/near same price as what they used to sell. That was a shock.
I really wasn’t sold on the entire HD-DVD/Bluray format until I bought a 56″ DLP + 1080p upscaling DVD player this Christmas. I can see graininess in my DVDs now (couldn’t before). Now I can see the benefit to the new format, but I still think I’d be more likely to go with a “movie on demand” download service before switching to HD-DVD/Bluray.
Comment by engtech — January 10, 2007 @ 2:01 pm PST