ABC's mindbending TV series Lost dominated the Blu-ray sales week ended August 29, according to Nielsen VideoScan. Not only did Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season and Lost: The Complete Collection take first and second place in the charts, but also half of all buyers of The Complete Collection went for the high-def version.
Blu-ray sales revenue: $16.27 million (up 54.62% year on year)
Packaged-media sales revenue: $133.94 million (down 9.25% year on year)
Market share: 12.1%
Surprised not to see Simpsons season 13 in the top 10, also surprised to see it's Blu share at only 13 percent. I really hope FOX continues with the seasons on bluray, even with those lower numbers
Well, when all the Best Buys only stocked 3 - 4 DVD copies of the Complete Collection, and only 1 - 2 of the blu-ray version, it's easy to understand why it took 50% of the sales.
As for the standalone Season 6, 20% is not so hot...I don't think this is any indication that "DVD is finally dying".
I already had seasons 1-3 on DVD by the time they started making LOST on Blu-ray, and Six Feet Under had just come out with a pretty awesome looking Complete Series set on DVD (not something I own, just something I saw existed and thought the packaging was pretty cool). What I'm getting at is that I think we all knew the LOST The Complete Collection was coming, and I know a bunch of LOSTies that did exactly what I did...
I own seasons 1-6 on DVD, but I own the Complete Collection on Blu-ray. I lend out the individual seasons, and they're just nice and pretty to have, but the Complete Collection doesn't leave the house, period. That might account for why the season 6 Blu-ray only took a 20% share compared to the Complete Collection's 50% share.
I certainly wasn't expecting The Complete Collection to rank so high, most stores were only stocking 1-2 on blu. Also glad to see Hot Tub showing up again! Amazing what 1 week of 14.99 pricing can do
@ Wdm81- I think many people just hold off buying seasons on blu until they go on sale. If you've already seen the season, why not hold off for a little while and get it for ten to twenty dollars cheaper. I do anymore because everytime I would finally buy a season, Amazon or BB seem to run it on sale a day or two later.
@ poggi1kinobi - I don't know if that's 100% true. I passed on Lost because I never got into it, but September 7th Its Chuck season 3 and Smallville Season 9 for me. I'll be at best buy at opening for my copies on blu just to make sure I get one. Not that I expect them to sell out but, I do think that BB only has a few Blu Rays of every release they carry on release day so just incase.....
@ poggi1kinobi, I guess I can see where you're coming from, but My philosophy is that I could die a horrible death tomorrow, might as well get what I want today... But thats just my outlook
I'm not suprised at all. LOST deserves the recognition after that slap in the face from the Emmys. But the people have made their voice loud and clear. LOST is my favorite show in the history of television (along with the original "The Twilight Zone") and will continue to have a legacy like no other.
Even people who are not fans of LOST have to recognize how important the show has been to the TV-on-Blu market.
@mredman: DVD is most certainly not dying - that's wishful thinking. BR overall market share is only 12%. A 20%, 13% and 11% BR market share respectively on Lost Sixth Season, Simpsons 13th and Back-Up Plan is actually quite disappointing. IMO, BR needs to really better establish itself and gain much more market share or you're going to start seeing studios not bother. If BR can only be successful for special titles (classic restorations, big action films), it will not survive.
I think lower prices on back catalog (like Dark Knight for $9) will help, but especially in this poor economy, it seems apparent that the great majority of consumers are still willing to live with DVD quality. I must admit to being a bit surprised by the divergent BR market shares on the Complete Lost and the 6th Season package, but I guess those who decided they wanted it in BR thought they needed the entire series in BR, not just the last season.
Wow Clash of the Titans still in there a month out. The way everyone panned it I figured the bad word of mouth would bury it. I'm glad people (myself included) are finding it enjoyable enough to pick up the Blu-ray.
Way to go for Lost as well. Loved the show. Not sure if I'll ever get the set though. A show based on mystery and suspense for me has little replay value. I felt the same way about Battlestar Galactica. The only tv series I own so far on Blu is Firefly, a comedy based show.
Zoet what are you on about. You are saying that BD is in danger. Are you high. All high profile titles get big sales on BD and as we all know BD is more expensive then DVD so if the share for BD is 40% it actually earns more money for the studio because BD are more expensive
And now with 3D how the hell can you say that BD is dying???
Why are you even on BD site if you are a supporter of DVD?
Kick-Ass was supposed to find its audience on disc...what happened? I know it's in the top 10, but it was better than every other movie/tv show on the top 10 (except for Avatar and The Bourne Trilogy). That would be my top 3. 1. Bourne 2. Avatar 3. Kick-Ass.
Obviouskly Kick ass is finding it's audience on DVD, at least to the satisfaction of the studio, They've already greenlit a sequel
I also Love that people are embracing clash of the titans so well. It's one of those films that gets trashed just for being a remake but it's actually a sucessful update and dare I say I find it much more enjoyable then the cheesy orginal
Blu-ray sales will go up fror a few years while packaged media (CD, DVD, any disc) all together will drop every year. Blu-ray will keep the disc format alive while the other two (DVD and CD) will eventually pass away
@mredman: I am a supporter of BD, but that doesn't mean I lie to myself about the reality of Blu-ray sales, just because I like the format. (I like analog LP vinyl as well, but I'm realistic about the fact that vinyl is less than 1/10 of 1% of sales, which as far as the industry is concerned, is a rounding error.) And in terms of revenue, BR has only an 18% share of physical media so far this calendar year. I didn't say BD is dying. I said that if market share doesn't pick up, it will die, just as Betamax, DVD-HD, SACD, DVD-Audio and many other high-end video and audio formats have before it. (And don't tell me you can still buy titles in some of those formats - for all practical purposes, they're dead.)
Saying "all high profile titles get big sales on BD" is meaningless. What are the unit sales and how do they compare to DVD and digital downloads? Besides, the business cannot survive based only on high profile hit titles because there's only 20 of those a year. The business can only survive if a large number of titles, including catalog titles, do well.
3D means something as far as hardware is concerned, but so far, 3D means nothing as far as software is concerned because so few titles have been released. Obviously, 3D is a big hope for the industry for the future and it's only available on BD. So it will be interesting to see whether 3D will drive 2D BD sales. The problem is that 3Ds path to success is probably three years down the road and I'm not sure the studios will be patent enough to wait that long to evaluate whether 2D BD is a success. This Christmas, in spite of the poor economy, will probably be a major indicator as to the future potential of both BD and 3D.
so you are basically saying blu ray could be dead in 2 years. That is just nonsense
Because the studios still produce blu ray as the best format with them putting extras on that isn't on the DVD and now George Lucas is gonna release Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogy on BD. Do you really think he would have done that if he thought blu ray is about to die.
And what has betamax to do with bluray. betamax never even got started before it went out the door. Bluray is growing year by year so how is it almost dying then. If more people get HDTV set ups more will get BD that is a given.
I really don't know why you are looking so doom and gloom about blu ray. When every market share shows that blu ray is growing year by year and DVD is dropping year by year. That is clearly an indication that blu ray is slowly taking over and with new titles up on 30-45% share for blu ray and it is growing year by year of course. How is that almost dying?
And a show like LOST clomplete set sold more on Blu ray then DVD if that is not also a sign that blu ray is finally taking over. I really don't know what is
I predict bluray is going to get a big rise in about a years time when star wars hits the format. Unless i'm remembering wrong, didn't the release of the phantom menace onto DVD back in 2001 signal a huge rise in the adoption of that format?
