Nielsen VideoScan High-Def market share for week ending March 9th, 2008
This week's Nielsen VideoScan numbers courtesy of Home Media Magazine remind us of the good 'ol days when the format was still raging. In fact, it's kinda nice to see HD DVD go out with a bang, as we suspect this will be the final week HD DVD is able to hold on to a respectable share of the market. We chalk up this week's results to Disney, because we believe that if 101 Dalmatians was released on Blu-ray this week, we'd be looking at completely different results. The reason we think that is because on DVD, the classic dog movie outsold Beowulf by over 4:1 -- that's not to say it would've sold that much better on Blu, since Beowulf probably appeals more to the HDM crowd. Blu-ray's top title didn't do too bad this week though ,but it barely bested the three week old American Gangster. As much fun as it is to see how well hot excluvies continue to sell on HD DVD, the fun is over as the only remaining new release left is Atonement in a few weeks. But even if there were any left, we doubt they'd stand up to Blu's lineup that will be reflected in next week's numbers. What's more up in the air is the status of this weekly post, but we're sure we'll think of something -- no we won't compare Blu-ray to DVD.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nfinity @ Mar 14th 2008 12:17PM
This is hilarious.. seriously LOL..
Format is officially dead and has 3 spots in top 10 and it takes no. 1 spot of all HD titles.
Just shows you, when sales stopped, even at a pitiful state HD DVD is in, they still can't break away.
It's so funny.
Arathil @ Mar 14th 2008 12:30PM
It's hilarious!
...it's funny that even with fire sales, 3 great titles that I'd love to own on Blu, a lack of hot Blu titles for that week, that your dead format can't pull any closer, even just for the moment (even if anyone cared about the rankings at this point).
It's done dude. Hang up your HD-DVD hat and just enjoy your movies. You really need to let go.
cclaunch @ Mar 14th 2008 12:52PM
Just goes to show, people never really cared about the disc format, just the movies.
Jeff N. @ Mar 14th 2008 12:59PM
Exactly! Content is what it was all about.
LiqwidZero @ Mar 14th 2008 1:04PM
Yes, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and PoTC 3 were amazing movies... not.
cclaunch @ Mar 14th 2008 2:08PM
LiqwidZero: I didn't say people cared about "good" movies. Just that people cared more about the movies than the disc format. Although Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was apparently entertaining enough for it to make over $300 million at the box office (with the trilogy totalling over $1 billion).
DEEZNUTZ @ Mar 14th 2008 1:26PM
I tip my hat to ya HD DVD. Nice way to go out... gotta respect that.
Mr Stevo @ Mar 14th 2008 1:49PM
It's just interesting to see HD-DVD still hanging on to the top ten spots. Sure Toshiba has turned its back on the format and given the middle finger to their customers. But, for being a dead format ...
I'm not delusional at all. I have a good Blu-ray library as well. But, again, it's interesting to see some titles of a dead format still making it to the top.
Truth Teller @ Mar 14th 2008 1:57PM
Yeah, it's pretty funny to see HD DVD taking over 1/3rd of the sales even in it's 'death'.
I'd love to see some actual sales numbers......my bet is both sets of actual numbers are rather small and weedy.
The coming US recession & European slowdown are going to just add to Blu-rays problems.
Couldn't be happening to a more deserving case.
It's just karma getting them back for the over-priced, DRM-ridden & incomplete mess that it is :P
MI @ Mar 14th 2008 2:45PM
OK, now the 'coming recession' is blu-ray's fault? You sure it's not because of the $10 billion that Toshiba lost on HDVD? Or possibly because of all the morons who went into debt beyond their means...
I'm really not one for name calling, but there really is something wrong with you dude.
Truth Teller @ Mar 14th 2008 2:51PM
MI
You need you eyes testing or your comprehension skills seriously upgraded if you reckon I've said anything like "now the 'coming recession' is blu-ray's fault".
BTW the word is that Toshiba 'lost' around $1 billion not 10
(which, btw, is nothing like as bad as 'a certain CE companies' losses over the last 5 yrs, actually).
.....and don't give me that 'I'm not one for name-calling' - as you then start name-calling.
There sure seems to be a hell of a lot wrong with your reading skills, comprehension abilities & financial knowledge.
TJ @ Mar 14th 2008 2:05PM
Is this really that surprising when you can get many HD DVD titles for less than the standard DVD.
jason w @ Mar 14th 2008 2:10PM
Im suprised none of the really cheap titles are up there. I would have thought Top Gun would have done better since its $10.00 every where. Oh well.
Gtpr32 @ Mar 14th 2008 2:20PM
@Nfinity
Yes it's very funny,Now go back to your hd-dvdead grave you pathetic loser.
1stGreg @ Mar 14th 2008 2:50PM
Yeah I too find interesting that the really cheap $9 bin titles didn't make it there.
Not much to draw upon here though. There is a large user base of HD DVD (1Million+ players, including the add on), and they didn't just all trash/sell their player when Toshiba anounced they were out. Some did , not all.
So, connect the dots between a weak BR release week (only big new title being 30 Days of Night), a very Strong HD DVD release lineup (between Beowulf, American Gangster and the critically acclaimed Into the Wild), and a population literally starved for films (HD DVD users), and you get this.
No real surprise (except the lack of any bargain bin HD DVD title in the top 10). Next week will be a slaughter though (Week of No country for Old Men, I Robot, ID4, Dogma, Appleseed, Gattacca & Hitman among others).
JimC @ Mar 14th 2008 3:02PM
Again, had these HDDVD exclusive titles been on blu-ray, HDDVD wouldn't have taken this much of the pie. It is moot however, HDDVD was abandoned. Let's move on. Any anomaly in sales right now is just that, an anomaly. Soon, all HD disc released will be blu-ray and 100% of the pie will be blue so the discussion has moved on to blu-ray increasing its adoption rate during the coming digital TV switch over. The BDA and studios have a window of opportunity this year to push HD disc media on a unified front, let's see if they deliver....
Truth Teller @ Mar 14th 2008 3:08PM
Jim C what on earth has high def got to do with the digital switch-over?
The means of signal delivery has nothing whatsoever to do with resolution (other than, ironically enough, to make people's SD TV resolution look as good as it can be and therefore further increase public satisfaction rates with the broadcast SD TV image)
It's that kind of either misunderstood or outright disinformation that turns off the mass-market
(and if you honestly think Blu-ray holds any great appeal there right now you are day-dreaming).
JimC @ Mar 14th 2008 3:24PM
TT
The digital switch over is a perfect tie-in for marketing. Yes many people and probably most will just use the cheap digital converter but many will see this as an "excuse" to upgrade their TV system and to capitalize on that, they BDA needs to be out in front showing off HD movies right along side those HD TV's that people will be looking at when they exercise their "excuse".
Don't pretend that the digital switch over isn't being used as an excuse to push HDTV's. Stores already are positioning it this way (some even misleadingly so). Many people will gladly use this as an excuse. This has nothing technically do with it but all about perception and marketing/positioning. With HDTV's becoming more mainstream and more HD content flowing, we will see this year explode and partly because of interest being generated by the (even if unrelated) digital switchover....
Leonardo DiCrapio @ Mar 15th 2008 1:52AM
the digital switchover only affects people who use an antenna to get their local channels. the converter box are going to cost about $30-$50, and there is a mail-in rebate of about $30. i really don't see how the digital switchover is going to be a big mover because people who don't pay for programming are unlikely to spend hundreds of dollars for a new television when the converter box is essentially free.
there will still be standard definition signals, too. it's just that the government wants to auction off the analog spectrum. you'll need a d-to-a converter box for many of the major channels that you get know. and there are some low-power (and mostly lower profile) tv stations that will still be broadcasting in analog.
http://www.dtvtransition.org/
JimC @ Mar 15th 2008 10:23AM
Leo,
Apparently you haven't been paying attention. I didn't say that people had to do it, I said it would be used as an excuse, marketed by TV makers as "Hey, airwaves are going digital, why not upgrade your TV too!", it will happen. Local news a few weeks ago ran a story of shoppers going TV shopping because of the switchover, some didn't know about the fact that it only affects over the waves others said it was a good time to get a new TV....
Mark my words, the switchover *will help* drive HDTV sales this year *even though* there is no technical need to get an HDTV because of it....
MasterCKO @ Mar 16th 2008 5:16PM
Seriously TT and Leo, the stuff that JimC is talking about is like remedial level marketing. It will almost certainly be pushed the way that he's saying.
Jove @ Mar 14th 2008 4:36PM
good movies + cheap movies + cheap players = no surprise here. got to respect the way they go out. either way people should enjoy their purchase...
Stephen Wong @ Mar 14th 2008 5:23PM
The telling sign here for me is that this shows just how tiny the hidef dvd market is, when an officially dead format can still hold the top title and 35% marketshare. What this tells me is that Bluray's victory hasn't caused the huge rush of shoppers to come running in over to its side now that there's an official format to back (as many had predicted). Until the BDA's manufacturers find a way to get these prices down, Bluray's numbers will remain a tiny tiny fraction of the overall home video market.
HD4ME @ Mar 14th 2008 8:41PM
Exactly.
The blu horde screamed for reds death because the market was fractured and we needed one unified format, now the excuse is lack of titles, whats the next excuse?
The red crowd replied with we need 2 formats for market place competition and cheap pricing to stimulate growth, now what have we got?
A unified market with prices spiraling upwards and it still cant beat a dead format! It shows how stupidly small the market is and how wrong the BDA have got it.
How can BR ever gain market dominance over DVD when it is only compatible with HD TV'S so by definition is all ready niche. Add to that poorly specified players and on todays market ridiculously overpriced hardware and software, and please don't tell me they are compatible with DVD players 10 years ago, nothing else in todays market is on the same level as 10 years ago why should BR be! All electronics are much cheaper then 10 years ago and the products are far more advanced.
Sony IS driving the BR bus and the other CE companies are just along for the ride, this IS just another sony blunder, consumers constantly reject sonys stupendously stupid attempts at market dominance through their monumentally ridiculous strategies, this BR disaster is just another in a long line of failures.
No doubt the usual blind blu wankers will walk all over this post, but there are none so blind as those who will NOT see, take the blinkers off fools.
comfysofa @ Mar 16th 2008 8:03AM
Well, gotta say just got my HD DVD player. Over in the uk Play.com were doing the ep30 for 50 quid with 2 discs, so i bought one. Works brilliantly - they have promptly sold out. Just got 3 discs at 6.50 each delivered.But the forum im on it seems just about everyone has bought one...great stuff. I dont really mind that blu ray won,it would have been nice if there was just one to start with. i just went with what i thought was at the end of the day a good deal....
PS JimC - bet that really ticks you off doesnt it - you seem pretty up tight - you must really love blu ray with youre blu ray avatar and all.....heh
Michael @ Mar 16th 2008 10:39AM
"What's more up in the air is the status of this weekly post, but we're sure we'll think of something -- no we won't compare Blu-ray to DVD."
Why the Hell not? After all, you gladly cheered on each week when the competition was BD vs. HD-DVD and your preferred format was ahead. The point has been made again and again that the real competition was never between the two of them but instead it has always been against the pre-existing DVD format. This standard is what BD should always have been measured against and now that HD-DVD is gone, you are just going to pack up and leave rather than expose just how far behind BD is when one compares BD sales vs. DVD?
What a bunch of freaking LOSERS!!! If you truly believe in the purity and dominance of your preferred format, I dare you to post how far behind BD is week after week after week. Its a sucker's bet that there is no way that's happening though. Pathetic. Simply pathetic.
ChodalBerryWagon @ Mar 16th 2008 4:34AM
Geez
Someone forgot their happy pills today
Ben @ Mar 16th 2008 10:41AM
DVD's aren't HD, so they won't be covered here.
But even if we wanted to, the raw data isn't available to us from Nielsen to even make such a comparison. If you really think it is worth comparing, email Home Media Magazine, 'cause they're the ones with the raw data.
Jove @ Mar 20th 2008 6:18AM
ben, must be pretty hard to deal with all these rude bastards right? passionate about things and repeating the same thing over and over. got to admire your patience and how you kept your profesionalism replying at him.