Blu-ray, DVDs Still Kicking Streaming's Butt

[Smokey]

Are you buying all that talk that the DVD and Blu-ray disc are headed for extinction? Well, don't, according to a new study from the NPD Group.

The research firm reports that sales of Blu-ray discs and DVDs remain the largest source of revenue for the movie industry, accounting for 61 percent of home video spending on movies in 2012.

The NPD Group does not include spending on Netflix monthly subscriptions in the final numbers, which seems like a significant oversight. But the hard dollars still being spent on hard discs is impressive and would suggest that it may take years before streaming replaces the disc.

“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,” Crupnick said. “For the time being, at least, consumers still like to own and rent movies and TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray.”

In other findings, the NPD Group said:

* Digital video accounted for 16 percent of home video spending in 2012, an increase of two percent over 2011.

* Among Internet Video on Demand services, Apple's iTunes still leads with a 45 percent market share; Amazon Instant Video is second with 18 percent while Vudu is third with 15 percent. (Netflix is not included because it does not sell titles individually; it sells monthly subscriptions.)

* DVD and Blu-ray Disc rentals from Redbox and other kiosk companies comprised nearly half of all physical disc movie rentals in 2012, rising 8 percentage points over the prior year to encompass nearly half (46 percent) of the market.

NPD: Disc, Not Digital, Drives Home Entertainment Revenue | Home Media Magazine

[recoveryone]

I would not doubt the info hear, I only see streaming as a good source to view older titles. New releases will still be a big selling/rental for hard copies.

[Smokey]

I would not doubt the info hear, I only see streaming as a good source to view older titles.

Or stream TV shows

I would say another reason for disc staying power would be picture and sound quaity. Especially with HD titles.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Well, this flies in the face of some members here who strongly believe the physical disc is dying, and streaming is taking its place. While revenue from streaming is growing, it cannot compare to physical disc sales and rentals.

Lastly, this shows a result that is quite different from what DEG numbers show, and why you should pick accurate sources that capture most if not all of the market, versus those that capture 50-60% of it.

It is not only picture and sound quality that help the physical disc, but the added value extra's that started getting popular just as Bluray came to market. Our survey's time and time again at the studio I work for point to the fact that while some of us don't care for them, an overwhelming majority loves them - hence why they have stayed on the disc.

[Smokey]

Well, this flies in the face of some members here who strongly believe the physical disc is dying, and streaming is taking its place. While revenue from streaming is growing, it cannot compare to physical disc sales and rentals.

IMO physical media will be with us for forseable future as long as non physical medias such clouding, digital storage, media servers, ets are vulnerable to wipe out and/or get corrupt. My friend have all of his dvd movies on 1TB extenal hard drive for convenience. But if hard drive fails, he have to start all over again.

And physical media seem to be one step ahead of digital medium. As soon as digital media catch up with bluray in terms of PQ and sound, bluray have moved on to 4K

[harley .guy07]

I will say that I do like the physical media like blue ray for its shear reliability compared to streaming especially in the main times at night when everyone is on the internet and your bandwidth shrinks. The main problem with streaming in America is that our internet speeds are very slow in comparison to some other countries and that makes it very hard to both stream HD video and the audio formats that could compare to Blue ray. If we had better internet connections in America I think that would not be the case but I think I would still like the reliability of physical media for my most treasured titles and stream when I wanted to see what is out there to watch.