HD DVD Outpacing All Next-Gen Formats in Sales Growth

[r.jones1116]

HD DVD Outpacing All Next-Gen Formats in Sales Growth

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Press Release from the HD DVD PR Group...

LAS VEGAS, July 17 /PRNewswire/ -- At the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) Home Media Expo 2007, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group today announced that overall HD DVD hardware sales were up 37 percent from Q1 to Q2 2007, while software sales experienced a 20 percent increase in growth. The data is based on NPD reports, Nielsen Netratings reports and point of sale data from the studios. During the same time-frame, overall Blu-ray hardware sales saw a 27 percent decline from Q1 to Q2, and Blu-ray software sales were down 5 percent.

Driven by major spring marketing efforts which brought standalone HD DVD players down to an industry first $299, dedicated HD DVD CE players experienced an astounding 183 percent quarterly increase. There are currently more than 180,000 dedicated HD DVD CE players in the market.

"The numbers are clear -- HD DVD is steadily gaining momentum and market share," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. "With HD DVD CE players now at MSRP prices starting at $299 and with strong marketing campaigns around new HD DVD titles with web-enabled interactive features, we are continuing to raise the bar for the consumer experience."

Recent studies(1) have shown most consumers are basing their purchasing decisions on pricing. Benefiting from more than a decade of DVD technology advancements and improvements, HD DVD hardware pricing has already dropped from $499 to $299 since the first players were introduced last year as a result of manufacturing efficiencies, while still maintaining a consistent consumer experience.

"With the total number of titles available for each format differing by only 20-30 titles at this time, the real-world gap in content between the two formats is in actuality not as large as many would perceive," said Paul Erickson, market analyst with IMS Research. "Consumers in the US and Europe continue to show the greatest sensitivity to price, rather than content or branding, in their purchase decision for standalone high-definition players."

With titles like "300" coming later this month from Warner Home Video and "Heroes: Season 1" to be released in August from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, HD DVD owners will have close to 1,000 titles worldwide to choose from by the holidays.

 

[navychop]

"Hardware" sales, not software. They're simply touting where they think they're strongest (players), downplaying everything else. As is to be expected.

But title sales, "software" sales, remain at around 2:1 in favor of Blu-ray. No need to predict the future, we'll see how things work out soon enough. One of these bandwagons is likely to fall back.

 

[CochiseGuy]

"Hardware" sales, not software. They're simply touting where they think they're strongest (players), downplaying everything else. As is to be expected.

But title sales, "software" sales, remain at around 2:1 in favor of Blu-ray. No need to predict the future, we'll see how things work out soon enough. One of these bandwagons is likely to fall back.

And sales remain at around 100:.6 in favor of DVD over Blu-ray.

HD DVD was on top of Blu-ray 70:30 through most of 2006, and the Blu-ray camp didn't see any reason to pull out. So for the first 6 months of 2007 BD is ahead 70:30, HD DVD should just give up, when they have 70% of the stand alone player market - which will ultimately decide which format will dominate in homes?

Not a chance.

 

[navychop]

No, of course not. But I know where to place my nickel bet. Or, perhaps, $500 bet, near the end of the year.

 

[jmd102354]

HD DVD Outpacing All Next-Gen Formats in Sales Growth

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Press Release from the HD DVD PR Group...

LAS VEGAS, July 17 /PRNewswire/ --
"The numbers are clear -- HD DVD is steadily gaining momentum and market share," said Ken Graffeo, executive vice president of HD strategic marketing for Universal Studios Home Entertainment, and co-president of the HD DVD Promotional Group. "

The red just about say's it all.
Do you really expect him to say anything else? lol

 

[JoeSp]

Driving the price of their players down is a great move by Toshiba but it is also the last move. If the HD-DVD camp does not see parity in disc sales by October when low cost BD players will start hitting the market along with a new wave of BD hit titles then most of the HD-DVD players might just start pulling up their tents.

However, Toshiba's move is a calculated risk and just might reward them if no BD player moves below the $400 threshold. If they can really sell a ton of players they just might extend this silly war another year or two.

 

[r.jones1116]

No, of course not. But I know where to place my nickel bet. Or, perhaps, $500 bet, near the end of the year.

If you think it will be over by the end of the year, I'll take your bet. As I stated before if it's over, it will be over for both formats.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Hmmm.... I'd say this thread fits the WAR ZONE forum better than this one.

 

[FlyingJ]

When are we going to recognize a difference between "news" and press releases. I use to put out press releases on my company and if you read them you would have sworn that it was the best thing since sliced bread. You can put anything and I mean anything you want to in a press release. You can spin it you can inflate it, no one is asking for your sources. If it were a Blu-Ray group's press release I would be saying the same thing.

 

[CochiseGuy]

Driving the price of their players down is a great move by Toshiba but it is also the last move. If the HD-DVD camp does not see parity in disc sales by October when low cost BD players will start hitting the market along with a new wave of BD hit titles then most of the HD-DVD players might just start pulling up their tents.

Well, I guess they might as well start pulling up their tents, 'cause there's no way disc sales will reach parity by October. But as I indicated in my previous post, having 30 to 40% of sales when high def total sales is only 1% of the home media market is certainly no reason to give up.

Just curious - why do you think "low cost BD players will start hitting the market" by October? That's when the new BD 1.1 specs are required of new models - requiring a minimum of 256 MB of memory & a secondary video decoder. That additional hardware will increase costs, not lower it.

However, Toshiba's move is a calculated risk and just might reward them if no BD player moves below the $400 threshold. If they can really sell a ton of players they just might extend this silly war another year or two.

The only thing "silly" about the competition between BD & HD DVD is having to buy one piece of hardware to enjoy The Bourne Identity and then have to buy more hardware to enjoy Apocalypto. But that's the fault of the studios endlessly trying to mandate how we get to enjoy their content at home.
But, nothing new - I guess early buyers of DVD had to wait awhile until Fox & Disney gave up on the self-destructing Divx format.

Hmmm.... I'd say this thread fits the WAR ZONE forum better than this one.

Yes, but at least everyone's being nice - so far.

 

[navychop]

If you think it will be over by the end of the year, I'll take your bet. As I stated before if it's over, it will be over for both formats.

Reference was to which would dominate in homes, and the $500 part to my likely purchase of a BD player later this year.

Do I think the war will be over by year's end? Maybe. More likely, first half of next year. If HD DVD is still around for Xmas 2008, selling at least one disc for every 2 or 3 Blu-ray discs sold, then yes, I'd say both will survive. I believe high def discs will survive as a format, and even surpass DVDs one day- but never be as dominate as DVDs, as downloading becomes easy and commonplace.

 

[jmd102354]

I believe high def discs will survive as a format, and even surpass DVDs one day- but never be as dominate as DVDs, as downloading becomes easy and commonplace. .

I'm not sure about that. As far as I'm concerned, I'm into collecting as most people I believe are. So just downloading something isn't for me. I'd rather have the Blu Ray, disc, cover art etc.

 

[navychop]

Yes, agreed. And very, very few people have broadband connections robust enough to support downloading HD in real time.

But some will go the download route- more and more, taking away market share from discs. I still expect discs to be the dominate format for many years to come. But they'll have to share the pie with this newcomer.

 

[jmd102354]

Yes, agreed. And very, very few people have broadband connections robust enough to support downloading HD in real time.

But some will go the download route- more and more, taking away market share from discs. I still expect discs to be the dominate format for many years to come. But they'll have to share the pie with this newcomer.

Now if I could download a variety of brewski's

 

[Ilya]

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