A Recession? Not on what WE love - Blu-ray Forum

RickM · 07-20-2008, 06:20 PM

Hello BluFriends. Sorry if this was posted previously. And maybe this should go under the News section, but it has alot of movie data that we all need to see. Below is a Reuters article on the recession and our favorite pastime. Check out the the downloads VS packaged material ratios. It also goes to prove that people in times of recession will always pay for their creature comforts, like a great Bluray movie..Reuters article below:

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Data from DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales and rentals show the home video business is holding upwell despite the down economy, the high price of gas and any consumer shift toward the Internet.

Consumer spending on DVDs and Blu-ray in the first six months of the year, purchases and rentals combined, was up 1.6% from spending in first-half 2007, according to Home Media Magazine's market research department. The first-half 2008 tally: $10.77 billion, compared with $10.6 billion a year ago.

Spending on disc purchases rose 1.1%, to $6.87 billion from $6.8 billion. Rental spending rose 2.6% to $3.9 billion from $3.8 billion, according to the trade publication.

Unit sales were up a healthy 1.1% as well, with consumers buying an estimated 412.3 million discs in the first six months of the year, up from 407.9 million discs in first-half 2007, according to studio reports.

Home entertainment industry analyst Tom Adams isn't surprised about the continued health of the packaged media business, despite Wall Street's negative perceptions.

"Most analysts are techno-geeks with plenty of money and not much time, while most Americans are not technically savvy, and they have plenty of time but not much money," said Adams, president of Adams Media Research.

"The fact is, despite what many on Wall Street seem to think, there is very little digital downloading going on. We're talking about $118 million in 2007 spending, and about $254 million this year -- so against a $24 billion packaged media market it's really not making much of a dent at this point."

Blu-ray sales alone should amount to at least three times what digital downloading is expected to bring in this year. In the first six months of the year, consumers spent $194 million on Blu-ray purchases, according to studio estimates -- a gain of nearly 350% from the $43 million that came from HD disc sales in the first six months of 2007, when growth was stymied by a format war between Blu-ray and rival HD DVD.

Unit sales of Blu-ray Discs in first-half 2008 were up 340% from the first six months of 2007, according to Nielsen VideoScan data. Nielsen numbers are based on point-of-sale data from most big retail chains with the notable exception of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Factoring in Blu-ray Disc sales at those two retail chains, studio estimates peg the number of Blu-ray Discs sold in the first six months of this year at 7.4 million units.

Adams said he expects the packaged media business to be more resilient than other businesses during the tough economic times the country is facing. He notes that in the early 1990s, the last time the country faced a recession, the video-rental business held its own. Today, the home entertainment business relies mostly on sales rather than rentals, he said, "so the question is will the $15 movie be as recession-proof as the $3 rental was in the last serious recession -- and why wouldn't it be? When you're cutting back on luxury items like trips to Hawaii and Europe, and lots of other stuff that has to get cut because of the high price of gas, buying a $15 movie to watch over and over again and add to your collection seems to be a great alternative to more expensive ways to entertain."

Blu Titan · 07-20-2008, 06:22 PM

Very good article. Blu-ray sales in Q4 will be huge. Can't wait to see the results.

DetroitSportsFan · 07-21-2008, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Very good article. Blu-ray sales in Q4 will be huge. Can't wait to see the results.

With all of the titles coming in the fall and what will be announced for the 4th quarter, I can only imagine how the Blu market will grow.

steve1971 · 07-23-2008, 10:47 PM

Its incredible really looking at how Blu Ray has just taken off and already has made millions, if not bliions of dollars even when this country is in the state it is. High gas prices, inflation, soring food prices and heres Blu Ray and HD Tv's sitting back and making millions in sales. Wow. This must be killing movie theaters because it must be hurting sales for them. Why go to a movie theater when you can sit home and watch it on Blu Ray?

Bobby Henderson · 07-23-2008, 11:37 PM

The movie industry tends to do pretty well in tough economic times.

We had the Arab oil embargo and lots of other economic problems in the early 1970s. At the same time, classics like The Godfather and The Exorcist were released. Both claimed the all time box office champ title respectively until Jaws and Star Wars dethroned them and ushered in the "summer movie season" concept.

The price of oil was at a then all time high and the American economy was mired in a recession and stagflation from the end of the 1970's and into the early 1980's. Again, this was another good period for movies. Shows like Apocalypse Now, Alien, Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark were released.

Here we are again. The economy is struggling to stay out of the toilet, but splashing itself badly with pee water. And yet this summer's crop of movies is significantly better than it has been in a number of years.

It also must be pointed out that many people are not driving around all over the place and spending a lot more time at home. That means much more in the way of movie watching. It's a lot less expensive to buy a good Blu-ray player and some movies than it is to go on vacation somewhere. Even though going to a movie theater isn't exactly cheap, it's not nearly as expensive as an out of town trip either.

I just drove to Rogers, Arkansas for a civic club convention. Fuel cost alone round trip was over $200. Nevermind the $550 hotel bill and roughly $300 spent on food and entertainment while there. Just think of how many BD movies one could buy with that chunk of change. BTW, the nicer than normal Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas had something I haven't seen in any other store: actual boxes on shelves of the 80GB PS3 Metal Gear Solid 4 edition.

07-20-2008, 06:20 PM	#1
RickM Junior Member Member since:Jul 2008 Location:Minnesota	A Recession? Not on what WE love Hello BluFriends. Sorry if this was posted previously. And maybe this should go under the News section, but it has alot of movie data that we all need to see. Below is a Reuters article on the recession and our favorite pastime. Check out the the downloads VS packaged material ratios. It also goes to prove that people in times of recession will always pay for their creature comforts, like a great Bluray movie..Reuters article below: LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Data from DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales and rentals show the home video business is holding upwell despite the down economy, the high price of gas and any consumer shift toward the Internet. Consumer spending on DVDs and Blu-ray in the first six months of the year, purchases and rentals combined, was up 1.6% from spending in first-half 2007, according to Home Media Magazine's market research department. The first-half 2008 tally: $10.77 billion, compared with $10.6 billion a year ago. Spending on disc purchases rose 1.1%, to $6.87 billion from $6.8 billion. Rental spending rose 2.6% to $3.9 billion from $3.8 billion, according to the trade publication. Unit sales were up a healthy 1.1% as well, with consumers buying an estimated 412.3 million discs in the first six months of the year, up from 407.9 million discs in first-half 2007, according to studio reports. Home entertainment industry analyst Tom Adams isn't surprised about the continued health of the packaged media business, despite Wall Street's negative perceptions. "Most analysts are techno-geeks with plenty of money and not much time, while most Americans are not technically savvy, and they have plenty of time but not much money," said Adams, president of Adams Media Research. "The fact is, despite what many on Wall Street seem to think, there is very little digital downloading going on. We're talking about $118 million in 2007 spending, and about $254 million this year -- so against a $24 billion packaged media market it's really not making much of a dent at this point." Blu-ray sales alone should amount to at least three times what digital downloading is expected to bring in this year. In the first six months of the year, consumers spent $194 million on Blu-ray purchases, according to studio estimates -- a gain of nearly 350% from the $43 million that came from HD disc sales in the first six months of 2007, when growth was stymied by a format war between Blu-ray and rival HD DVD. Unit sales of Blu-ray Discs in first-half 2008 were up 340% from the first six months of 2007, according to Nielsen VideoScan data. Nielsen numbers are based on point-of-sale data from most big retail chains with the notable exception of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. Factoring in Blu-ray Disc sales at those two retail chains, studio estimates peg the number of Blu-ray Discs sold in the first six months of this year at 7.4 million units. Adams said he expects the packaged media business to be more resilient than other businesses during the tough economic times the country is facing. He notes that in the early 1990s, the last time the country faced a recession, the video-rental business held its own. Today, the home entertainment business relies mostly on sales rather than rentals, he said, "so the question is will the $15 movie be as recession-proof as the $3 rental was in the last serious recession -- and why wouldn't it be? When you're cutting back on luxury items like trips to Hawaii and Europe, and lots of other stuff that has to get cut because of the high price of gas, buying a $15 movie to watch over and over again and add to your collection seems to be a great alternative to more expensive ways to entertain."

Similar Threads
thread	Forum	Thread Starter	Replies	Last Post
Will this recession turn into a depression?	General Chat	Uniquely	54	03-06-2009 02:13 AM
The true future with downloads: RECESSION!!!!!	General Chat	buckshot	6	01-13-2008 07:14 PM

07-20-2008, 06:22 PM	#2
Blu Titan Super Moderator Top ranked HT gallery Top contributor Member since:Jul 2007 Location:Edo, Land of the Samurai Home Theater Gallery:42 4K collection:41 Blu-ray collection:2864 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:92	Very good article. Blu-ray sales in Q4 will be huge. Can't wait to see the results.

07-23-2008, 10:47 PM	#4
steve1971 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Feb 2008 Location:Saint Paul Minnesota. 4K collection:15 Blu-ray collection:352 Blu-ray reviews: 119 Trading Score:1	Its incredible really looking at how Blu Ray has just taken off and already has made millions, if not bliions of dollars even when this country is in the state it is. High gas prices, inflation, soring food prices and heres Blu Ray and HD Tv's sitting back and making millions in sales. Wow. This must be killing movie theaters because it must be hurting sales for them. Why go to a movie theater when you can sit home and watch it on Blu Ray?

07-23-2008, 11:37 PM	#5
Bobby Henderson Power Member Member since:Jan 2008 Location:Oklahoma Blu-ray collection:96 Blu-ray reviews: 12	The movie industry tends to do pretty well in tough economic times. We had the Arab oil embargo and lots of other economic problems in the early 1970s. At the same time, classics like The Godfather and The Exorcist were released. Both claimed the all time box office champ title respectively until Jaws and Star Wars dethroned them and ushered in the "summer movie season" concept. The price of oil was at a then all time high and the American economy was mired in a recession and stagflation from the end of the 1970's and into the early 1980's. Again, this was another good period for movies. Shows like Apocalypse Now, Alien, Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark were released. Here we are again. The economy is struggling to stay out of the toilet, but splashing itself badly with pee water. And yet this summer's crop of movies is significantly better than it has been in a number of years. It also must be pointed out that many people are not driving around all over the place and spending a lot more time at home. That means much more in the way of movie watching. It's a lot less expensive to buy a good Blu-ray player and some movies than it is to go on vacation somewhere. Even though going to a movie theater isn't exactly cheap, it's not nearly as expensive as an out of town trip either. I just drove to Rogers, Arkansas for a civic club convention. Fuel cost alone round trip was over $200. Nevermind the $550 hotel bill and roughly $300 spent on food and entertainment while there. Just think of how many BD movies one could buy with that chunk of change. BTW, the nicer than normal Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas had something I haven't seen in any other store: actual boxes on shelves of the 80GB PS3 Metal Gear Solid 4 edition.

Best Blu-ray Movie Deals