81:19 Nielsen/VideoScan Weekly Sales Numbers

[elwaylite]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

Transformers is now ahead.

But 17 BD titles are currently ahead of HD DVD's #2 (Planet Earth at DVD #66). And HD DVD #3 (Top Gun) is DVD #227. That's pretty terrible. The entire HD DVD quarter is riding on this one title.

Gary

Yep, regardless od what Transformers does, all their other titles are getting hammered at Amazon.

I just ordered Pirates 2 and GI Jane BOGO.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

The entire HD DVD quarter is riding on this one title.

+1!

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by clarkbar

Does anyone know if Fry's is included in Nielsen numbers. I always want my purchaces to be counted, so no Wal-Mart.

Pretty sure Frys is included. According to the omniscient and omnipresent WickyWoo, Nielsen reporters include all brick & mortar stores except Wal-Mart, none of the online-exclusive retailers except Amazon. Since Frys exists in both the real and virtual worlds, they're not online-exclusive and should be expected to report. That was the reasoning that let me click the "buy" button, anyway .

[Razzy]

Originally Posted by dialog_gvf

That's pretty terrible. The entire HD DVD quarter is riding on this one title.

Yep...the BDA knew it too.

[CptGreedle]

It was an excellent strategy to offer the BOGO deal. In fact I have seen 2 other similar deals all this week as well. It will only further devastate Paramount after their bad decision. I think they will learn a lesson they will not forget after this. Although I could be wrong as this isn't the first bad choice they've made.
The truth is that BD has more support, and this shows how strong that support is.

[elwaylite]

Dropping player prices and offering BOGO for EVERY major HDDVD only release till 2008 is a good idea.

[docjan_uk]

So when does this get updated again?

[LynxFX]

Originally Posted by docjan_uk

So when does this get updated again?

Every Friday, usually by noon EST.

[cawgijoe]

I have never seen a week like this one! I bought 8 BD's this week and that's completely out of the ordinary for me. Up to this point I've only been buying the one's I really want and could go weeks without buying any.

I have a feeling that we are all going to be surprised by how big this week is for Blu.

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by cawgijoe

I have never seen a week like this one! I bought 8 BD's this week and that's completely out of the ordinary for me. Up to this point I've only been buying the one's I really want and could go weeks without buying any.

I have a feeling that we are all going to be surprised by how big this week is for Blu.

A lot of people started buying last weekend, so there should be a small bump in the pre-Transformers week as well.

I agree with WickyWoo and others, I still think HD-DVD will win the T-week but it's probably going to be pretty close. HD-DVD will have 100k (T) and 30k (everything else), Blu-ray will have the regular 60k plus maybe 20k for BOGO sale and 30k for spillovers from recent weeks' releases (don't forget that Fox seems to be shipping a little late on some of their recent releases so some people are just getting their hands on them -- my CC didn't even have FF2 on display until I asked them this week).

That will come up to about 45:55 BD:HD, closer than 40:60 or so that seemed to be inevitable before the sales started.

enjoy
gandalf

[raggarichie]

Blu Ray will not lose this week. in order for HDDVD to win any week, every single HDDVD owner will have to buy a movie. quit looking at the percentage and look at the real numbers. The main reason 300 sold more copies on Bluray over HDDVD is because of the install base. not every HDDVD owner will or can afford transformer the 1st week. the only way i see them winning even if BLu didn't have this sale is by placing more players in people hands.


how soon do you guys forget. HDDVD had 8 or 9 exclusives one week and blu ray had none and they still lost. one movie regardless of what it is won't changed that until the install base is larger.

[gand41f]

Originally Posted by raggarichie

Blu Ray will not lose this week. in order for HDDVD to win any week, every single HDDVD owner will have to buy a movie. quit looking at the percentage and look at the real numbers. The main reason 300 sold more copies on Bluray over HDDVD is because of the install base. not every HDDVD owner will or can afford transformer the 1st week. the only way i see them winning even if BLu didn't have this sale is by placing more players in people hands.


how soon do you guys forget. HDDVD had 8 or 9 exclusives one week and blu ray had none and they still lost. one movie regardless of what it is won't changed that until the install base is larger.

In general yes I agree that Blu-ray in much better shape, but don't forget there are something like 400k HD-DVD players (including X360 add-ons). Even considering a large number of those are people owning multiple players, selling 100k copies in one week is not that far-fetched.

The week they had 8 or 9 exclusives, none of them were blockbuster day-and-date releases with DVD.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be proven wrong but don't underestimate how well day-and-date blockbusters do. Remember how Premonition BD just blew away everything when the weekly numbers came out even though it barely made a blip on Amazon. People walk into B&M stores to buy the new stuff, and there's really nothing we can do about it.

enjoy
gandalf

[ikbradley]

Originally Posted by gand41f

In general yes I agree that Blu-ray in much better shape, but don't forget there are something like 400k HD-DVD players (including X360 add-ons). Even considering a large number of those are people owning multiple players, selling 100k copies in one week is not that far-fetched.

The week they had 8 or 9 exclusives, none of them were blockbuster day-and-date releases with DVD.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be proven wrong but don't underestimate how well day-and-date blockbusters do. Remember how Premonition BD just blew away everything when the weekly numbers came out even though it barely made a blip on Amazon. People walk into B&M stores to buy the new stuff, and there's really nothing we can do about it.

enjoy
gandalf

Exactly! It is better to take a cautious approach and be pessimistic. This week is not going to be an easy win. Transformers should be a title that many in the 360 add-on camp purchase. I think it should sell more than 300, which did sell quite a bit in the first week.

Plus, it's just much easier to be a pessimist and give the HD-DVD camp over at AVS less reason to gloat. This is their only chance to win a week, so just savour the fact blu-ray is making it very difficult.

[SpikesBluBlooded]

I agree, don't give them something to brag about. We're already half-way there with the buying bonanza we're all taking part in, we just need to keep our mouths shut regarding the outcome until the actual numbers are revealed. For me, personally, I won't celebrate anything other than a total victory. I don't want to lose even one week this year to HD DUD. We'll see how it turns out on Friday, everyone cross your fingers and KEEP BUYING BLU!

[patrick99]

Originally Posted by SpikesBluBlooded

I agree, don't give them something to brag about. We're already half-way there with the buying bonanza we're all taking part in, we just need to keep our mouths shut regarding the outcome until the actual numbers are revealed. For me, personally, I won't celebrate anything other than a total victory. I don't want to lose even one week this year to HD DUD. We'll see how it turns out on Friday, everyone cross your fingers and KEEP BUYING BLU!

Unfortunately we won't know until a week from Friday.

[Proteus]

Well, might as well toss in my prediction:

HDDVD won't be 'winning' anything now or ever.

There are way too many factors at play.

This 'war' has never been about HDDVD vs. Blu-ray so much as HDM vs. SDM. Blu-ray's real competitor is DVD. HDDVD is nothing to be concerned with in the big picture, to be honest (I'd explain in one of my long winded detailed posts but I'm feeling lazy at the moment).

[Grisle]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Well, might as well toss in my prediction:

HDDVD won't be 'winning' anything now or ever.

There are way too many factors at play.

This 'war' has never been about HDDVD vs. Blu-ray so much as HDM vs. SDM. Blu-ray's real competitor is DVD. HDDVD is nothing to be concerned with in the big picture, to be honest (I'd explain in one of my long winded detailed posts but I'm feeling lazy at the moment).

SDM will be huge for a while to come, but it can't compete at the same level as BD. Once HD-DVD is out of the picture we can hope that there will be only one HD format...if so it will be a much smaller market for years to come, but it will have so many advantages over SDM that we can say it's apples and oranges. Your average consumer will be buying SDM for years to come, but BD will only grow and hopefully get cheaper. HDTV's are getting cheaper all the time so people will want to take advantage of that in the years to come...not to mention the BD players are getting cheaper. Once BD players are in the $199 range we'll see a lot of your average consumers saying "why not" and jumping into HD. New release SD's aren't really all that cheap either...the 2 disc edition of Transformers was $22.95 @ CC. We can look forward to more special features and lower prices in the future...things will only get better for us. We can't be in a war with SDM if it has nothing to win...there has to be an HD format out there so that is what the winner of the war becomes.

[Anthony P]

In general yes I agree that Blu-ray in much better shape, but don't forget there are something like 400k HD-DVD players (including X360 add-ons). Even considering a large number of those are people owning multiple players, selling 100k copies in one week is not that far-fetched.

gand41f: number of players is not so important (obviously the more out there the more movies can sell) like you said some can have multiple players, others brake down and in the end we have no idea how many have really been sold, is it 400k or 300k or 500k?


I think the best thing is to look at 300, after many weeks it has sold 400k BD/HD DVD and BD is 2:1 so that means that it took several weeks for HD DVD to sell 130k movies, is Transformers that much more important that in a few days it can sell as many? Not everyone is like us and waits in line on Tuesday to buy the new movie that is minutes old.

[L or S of Perfect?]

Originally Posted by gand41f

In general yes I agree that Blu-ray in much better shape, but don't forget there are something like 400k HD-DVD players (including X360 add-ons). Even considering a large number of those are people owning multiple players, selling 100k copies in one week is not that far-fetched.

The week they had 8 or 9 exclusives, none of them were blockbuster day-and-date releases with DVD.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be proven wrong but don't underestimate how well day-and-date blockbusters do. Remember how Premonition BD just blew away everything when the weekly numbers came out even though it barely made a blip on Amazon. People walk into B&M stores to buy the new stuff, and there's really nothing we can do about it.

enjoy
gandalf

I think T will do at least what 300 did for hd dvd (probably 10%-20% more), but IMO you're underestimating the strength of the BOGO sale. Of course there's the fact that Sunday BOGO isn't counted, and the fact that HDers were able to participate in the BOGO to a degree (Circuit City).

Anecdotal, I know, but seeing the decimated shelves at BB & CC & the amazon rankings, I don't think HD would pull off more than a 55:45 win.

[The Guardian]

Does Amazon ship on weekends? If not, ALL their sales from the start of the BOGO on Friday would be in this week's numbers rather than last week's, right?