BD spending north of $200 million, up about 300%

[shinynewtie]

Looks like things are looking good for BD, especially in the second half of 2008. This article from Video Business today:

www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6579661.html

Quote from article:

Although Blu-ray titles are sold at a hefty premium to standard DVD, consumers believe BD is a relative deal compared to other leisure options, say studios. That is reflected in BD spending north of $200 million year-to-date through June, up about 300% from the same 2007 frame.

[Stories]

I would hope so, there are tons more people capable of playing BDs now.

[shinynewtie]

well, it think the idea is that there is an undeniable trend that statistically shows that blu-ray is becoming a market player and will continue on a path towards mass adoption...

i guess this thread (and article) is more to contradict the naysayers...

[C.S.Strowbridge]

Blu-ray sales will need to pick up to reach $1 billion this year, but it is still doable.

[mcblob]

its all good news, but it is not as good as it looks at blu ray costs more than dvds so its not as high as it looks

[zombieflanders]

Originally Posted by mcblob

its all good news, but it is not as good as it looks at blu ray costs more than dvds so its not as high as it looks

Higher spending on higher-priced products is suddenly a bad thing.

Huh, didn't know today was opposite day.

[steaky]

Originally Posted by mcblob

its all good news, but it is not as good as it looks at blu ray costs more than dvds so its not as high as it looks

The production costs is what affects teh studios, not the retail price. Is the production cost of a BD more than a DVD? yes. Is that incremental cost enough to make $200m in sales mean nothing? No.

[kowhite]

Originally Posted by mcblob

its all good news, but it is not as good as it looks at blu ray costs more than dvds so its not as high as it looks

$200 million dollars is $200 million dollars no matter how you look at it.

[luclin999]

Is the $200 million in US or worldwide sales?

[Nighthawk]

Originally Posted by luclin999

Is the $200 million in US or worldwide sales?

US sales only.

[BettiePage]

so was the 1 billion mark for global or us/north america only?

hard to see an extra 800 mill in the last 6 months if its us/north america only.

[luclin999]

Originally Posted by BettiePage

so was the 1 billion mark for global or us/north america only?

hard to see an extra 800 mill in the last 6 months if its us/north america only.

To be fair, the last quarter of the year may see sales equaling the first three quarters combined, however even with that they would still need another $200 -300 million from Q3 sales to be on track.

[Nighthawk]

Originally Posted by BettiePage

so was the 1 billion mark for global or us/north america only?

hard to see an extra 800 mill in the last 6 months if its us/north america only.

The 1b mark is for the US.

Yes, I know it's highly unlikely that BR will finish with 1b in US sales for '08. BR sold between 200m and 300m in the first 6 months of this year. It will certainly have a better Q3 and Q4 but it looks like it will fall short of 1b for the year. Then again, 800m or so, isn't too shabby for a niche format.

Beats the crap out of downloads.

[marine92104]

Prices are coming down. Most catalog titles are $19.99 on Amazon & alot of new titles are at $23.95 there.

I don't think they're high priced. I think they're a bargain at that price. Look how long it took DVD to come down to those prices.

If they remain there or get lower I don't see any reason why sales won't increase.

Player prices will continue to come down.

[Sbert]

Originally Posted by BettiePage

so was the 1 billion mark for global or us/north america only?

hard to see an extra 800 mill in the last 6 months if its us/north america only.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=1222

One of the reasons movie studios are hoping consumers adopt Blu-ray is in order to offset continually declining DVD sales. Since they plateaued three years ago, DVD sales have slowly decreased. The first quarter of this year was no different, showing an overall drop in DVD sales of 1.2% from Q1 2007. However, Blu-ray sales saved the day - just as studios have hoped they would - and when combined with DVD sales resulted in an overall increase in sales of 1% over last year.

Steve Beeks, president and co-COO of Lionsgate commented, "Blu-ray had its second-best week ever in the seven days ending March 23, and we anticipate Blu-ray sales of $800 million to $1billion-plus for all of 2008, up dramatically from approximately $300 million last year."

With the format war now over, studios are looking forward to the rest of the year as more and more consumers adopt the high definition format.

As a lot of people have pointed out, the holiday season is generally responsible for 33 to 50% of all sales for the year.