Disc Sales Drop while Digital Sellthrough Up 43%

[Smokey]

Although digital movie sales are up in first quarter of 2014, it still dwarf as compare with DVD and bluray disc sales.

The total amount of money generated from digital movie sales during the first three months of 2014 was $330.25 million, up 43% from the first quarter of 2013. However it remain small compared with the billions of dollars studios have realized each year from the sale of DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.

And on that front, discs sales — which for the past several years appeared to be stabilizing — were off 13.7%, to $1.82 billion from $2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2013.

When all distribution channels are factored in, total consumer spending on home entertainment during the first quarter of 2014, was $4.53 billion, down 3.8% from the $4.71 billion consumers spent in the first quarter of 2013.

Total consumer purchases on movies, TV shows and other filmed content, factoring in EST as well as DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, amounted to $2.15 billion, 7.6% less than the $2.33 billion generated by content sales in the first quarter of 2013.

Hefty gains also were realized in subscription streaming — think Netflix — with consumers shelling out an estimated $928.6 million, up 26.5% from $734 million in the first quarter of 2013.

DEG: Digital Sellthrough Up 43%, But Disc Sales Drop in Q1 | Home Media Magazine

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Quarter by quarter sales are going to vacilate depending on what is released on those formats. Nobody waits for movies to come out on streaming, they wait for them to come out on disc. The disc will always be the leading indicator on how well a movie will do as a digital sell through. Digital sell through is catalog title driven, and disc sales are new title driven.

Now from a microscopes perspective. DVD as usual is losing traction. Bluray sales are gaining traction ever so slightly. Lumping them together hides the trend of folks wanting quality from their disc, and convenience from streaming and sell through.

All entertainment content sales suffered because of lack of good titles being released during the first quarter. The first two quarters of any year are usually not the best sell times for the studio's, so this new is par for the course year over year.

I say this is no news.....

[Smokey]

All entertainment content sales suffered because of lack of good titles being released during the first quarter. The first two quarters of any year are usually not the best sell times for the studio's, so this new is par for the course year over year.

You probably have a point Sir TT. Given that Blu-ray sales accounted for 50% of home entertainment revenue for titles with a box office performance of $100 million or more, summer hits are yet to come.