According to Universal, Harry Potter 5 HD DVD outselling BD

[bangy38]

http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6515097.html

Some commentary on my part:

- Check out the shoddy reporting: at the beginning the article cites "according to Universal Studios Home Entertainment and other industry research sources" but the only other "industry research sources" cited later in the article are amazon rankings. Using amazon rankings to extrapolate data about the industry as a whole is just... ugh.

- The Universal numbers given for harry potter directly contradict the Nielsen numbers leaked by Dave Vaughn. Interestingly, Universal numbers are 55-45 in favor of HD, while the Nielsen numbers from Dave said that the BD version won out in a ratio of 1.2:1 (or roughly 55-45 in favor of BD). Hmmm...

- Universal's numbers for Spiderman 3 of course do not include anything from the trilogy (which was in much greater abundance than Universal's Amazon-only bourne trilogy).

- Universal also doesn't provide any numbers regarding the Harry Potter box set (which according to Dave Vaughn sold at an even better ratio of 1.3:1 in favor of BD and did about 20% of the numbers that the single release of 'Phoenix' did).

Edit: One other thing I thought was interesting was Universal releasing their own numbers for Spiderman 3 (according to them, a not very flattering 30,000). I know in the past that paidgeek has mentioned the difficulty in mentioning the number of units sold even for Sony's own titles, and that releasing numbers for titles from other studios was pretty much taboo. I wonder what paidgeek and Sony Pictures' reaction would be to Universal's Spiderman numbers.

Thoughts?

[youth83]

They were probably counting the wrong disks that were packed on the blu-ray gift set haha!

[Dyana B]

At the risk of sounding like a complete moron, isn't Harry Potter on Warner Bros? So why would Universal Home Entertainment make such claims?

[Esox50]

Just more spin from desperate people. I do think at one point early in the week, it was said Harry Potter on HD DVD was outselling the Blu-Ray. However, by the end of the week, that situation was reversed.

This is why some people wanted to see the ratios in today's Home Media Magazine as that would tell the story for the whole week, not one point in time...

[atomik kinder]

Uh, excuse me? Spider-man 3 only sold 30,000 copies in its first week? According to Universal and Bourne sold 60,000? what kind of crap is Universal trying to push? We already know that Spider-man 3 sold way more than that the first week it was released. How stupid do they think people are?

[reiella]

Umm, wow.

Spiderman 3 only sold 30k copies on its opening week. Of course if you count box-set sales that was 70k...

Now, the single title release comparison with say, HP Order of the Phoenix is a similar matter. The BoxSet came at the same time as availablity for the previous titles, boxset sales quite possibly have a different comparison.

And well. Umm, since when is Ken Graffeo qualified to speak on sales numbers for Warner?

[jclark67]

This is very odd indeed. It also says "Universal could only provide data on the Bourne single SKU. But the studio expects the pattern to continue when sales information can be gathered in the next several days for its own HD DVD Bourne trilogy set." But I thought that there wasn't a Bourne Trilogy. I thought Amazon was just selling the three single SKUs at a discount. So all the Ultimatums were counted, but I am bet they didn't count the Spidey box sets.

[bangy38]

Originally Posted by Dyana B

At the risk of sounding like a complete moron, isn't Harry Potter on Warner Bros? So why would Universal Home Entertainment make such claims?

It is pretty odd, though I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was in part to try and discredit all the rumors of Warner going BD exclusive. After all, why would Warner drop HD DVD if their movies sell better on that format (not that that argument ever stopped Paramount, hah).

[zombie]

My two cents:

The very fact that Universal is talking about Warner's sales tells me they are worried Warner is about to go Blu and thus are in full spin mode.

[sj001]

How would Universal have the exact sales figures from WB? Doesn't make sense... and why would they be quoting these? I think they should be more concerned with their own sales. But then again, as NYG mentioned above me, this fact points to them being concerned about WB jumping.

[bangy38]

Originally Posted by jclark67

This is very odd indeed. It also says "Universal could only provide data on the Bourne single SKU. But the studio expects the pattern to continue when sales information can be gathered in the next several days for its own HD DVD Bourne trilogy set." But I thought that there wasn't a Bourne Trilogy. I thought Amazon was just selling the three single SKUs at a discount. So all the Ultimatums were counted, but I am bet they didn't count the Spidey box sets.

I wondered about this too, though it could be possible that amazon was handling the bourne trilogy with it's own SKU or something.

It bugs me though that Universal seems to be implying an apples-to-apples comparison with Spiderman to Bourne (since supposedly neither numbers contain trilogy sales). Of course, the Spiderman trilogy was heavily promoted and available at all retailers, while Bourne was amazon-only. Also none of the Spiderman films had been released on BD before (whereas the first two Bourne films have been out on HD DVD for a while). I would expect the trilogy:standalone sales ratio of Spiderman to completely dwarf that of Bourne...

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by bangy38

It bugs me though that Universal seems to be implying an apples-to-apples comparison with Spiderman to Bourne (since supposedly neither numbers contain trilogy sales).

Well, we know for sure that using apples-to-oranges comparisons and passing them off as apples-to-apples comparsons is a staple of HD-DVD propaganda. Why is this time any different?

[Esox50]

Originally Posted by nyg

My two cents:

The very fact that Universal is talking about Warner's sales tells me they are worried Warner is about to go Blu and thus are in full spin mode.

Yeah, now that you mentioned it, it does strike me as odd that Universal is commenting on and/or touting WBs sales. Seems a bit off.

[reiella]

Originally Posted by Esox50

Yeah, now that you mentioned it, it does strike me as odd that Universal is commenting on and/or touting WBs sales. Seems a bit off.

More and more the article just reads like a blog piece, so I'm going to dismiss it as such now.

[GreenScar]

Sorry if this has been posted. Looks like Universal is at it again, posting numbers before official counts are out:

link

DEC. 21 | Fourth-quarter HD DVD releases The Bourne Ultimatum and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are outpacing similarly high-profile Blu-ray titles, according to Universal Studios Home Entertainment and other industry research sources.

In its first week on sale, starting Dec. 11, the Bourne single-disc HD DVD configuration sold 60,000 units, doubling the 30,000 units Spider-Man 3 sold during its street week in its similar individual Blu-ray SKU. Counting other configurations, including its BD trilogy, Spider-Man 3 reached higher six-day numbers, according to distributor Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Universal could only provide data on the Bourne single SKU. But the studio expects the pattern to continue when sales information can be gathered in the next several days for its own HD DVD Bourne trilogy set.

Additionally, notes Universal research, Warner Home Video’s HD DVD release of Order of the Phoenix is edging out the titles’ BD version by a 55-to-45 ratio. Order of the Phoenix also streeted Dec. 11. That claim matches information gathered from Amazon.com sales rankings in recent weeks.

These HD DVD success stories do mark a reversal from the overall trend of BD titles topping its rival. Generally, BD sales trump HD DVD sales by a 2-to-1 ratio.

Ken Graffeo, Universal executive VP of marketing and co-president of the North American HD DVD Promotional Group, acknowledges the continued, on average, BD strength over HD DVD software. But he believes it is significant that HD DVD is catching BD in terms of fourth-quarter new releases, as he believes it is a more apple to apples comparison of consumer purchasing behavior.

These new box-office hits are not normally included in the primarily catalog ‘buy one, get one free’ deals. Popular with BD studios, these BOGO deals are enticing because consumers get two titles for 50% off the original price. But there is a question of how long studios can continue to support these promotions as they bring in considerably less money than regualarly-priced titles would.

“I think the fourth quarter is going to be interesting,” said Graffeo. “If you break out the hits, I think we will be even. But the aggressive discounting, with catalog [of buy one, get one free offers], can inflate the numbers.”

Graffeo believes that HD DVD is on an upswing with recent releases because of the surge in people buying HD DVD hardware, which also has been steadily discounted. Toshiba sold 90,000 players in a two-day period in November, thanks to Wal-Mart and Best Buy pricing HD DVD players below $100 for the first time.

“This is a real testament to the momentum we are gaining with the set-top players,” said Graffeo. “We are beginning to realize the attach rate with movie sales.”

[tqlla]

haha, using amazon numbers? Thats pathetic

[UltimateFighter]

SP3 sold way more then 30,000 units. Why can they always get away with lying?

[RickD]

...doubling the 30,000 units Spider-Man 3 sold during its street week in its similar individual Blu-ray SKU.

So they aren't counting the Spidey boxset? The entire article seems fishy to me.

Rick

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Graffeo is a douchebag.

[The Guardian]

umm.. what Bourne trilogy boxset??

Is this just Universal and HD DVD taking advantage of the delay of the Nielson numbers for last week?

[CptGreedle]

This is COMPLETE BS. It is not even accurate.
Just ignore this FUD.