General Discussion Physical and Digital report card for 2019 (1 Viewer)

[Cranston37+]

Total spending on home entertainment $25.2 billion +8.4%

Of that...

Physical vs. Digital
Physical $4.73 billion 19% of market
Digital $20.46 billion 81% of market

Breaking it down...

Subscription streaming $15.90 billion +23.7% 63% of market
Movie purchases (physical and digital) $5.90 billion -9.4% 23% of market
Movie rentals (physical and digital) $3.40 billion -12.30% 14% of market

Physical sales $3.29 billion -18.2% 13% of market
Digital sales $2.60 billion +5.1% 10% of market

Physical rentals $1.44 billion -19.50% 6% of market
Digital rentals $1.96 billion -6.20% 8% of market


https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/2019-us-home-entertainment-market-25-billion-1203463878/

 

[Cranston37+]

Interesting fact to put things into perspective:

The physical movie business was roughly the size (based on revenue) of the NHL in 2018.

 

[Dave Moritz]

I honestly feel it is sad that physical media is not being supported more than digital! Yes there is a place for digital and yes it has greatly improved and is convenient. But physical media is still the better of the two and has something that digital will not! Physical media is better in picture and sound quality, has a resale value, it is collectable, can be left in a will to another person and is not effected by internet speed! I do have movies I have purchased digitally via iTunes and yes they look good and sound good as well and very convenient. But lets face it we do not own digital content and there are a few instances where we could loose that content or not be able to access it. I just wish more people would realize there is a good reason to buy physical media. I do buy digital but I spend more on physical than I do digital. To many people want it now and do not want to wait and that more than anything drives digital sales IMHO. I have know that digital has surpassed physical sales but not to that degree.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Frankly, I think one of the reasons besides cost is people are running out of storage space for discs. It's the reason why my purchases of digital media has increased, though, I still buy my share of discs too.

 

[Mark-P]

I honestly feel it is sad that physical media is not being supported more than digital! Yes there is a place for digital and yes it has greatly improved and is convenient. But physical media is still the better of the two and has something that digital will not! Physical media is better in picture and sound quality, has a resale value, it is collectable, can be left in a will to another person and is not effected by internet speed! I do have movies I have purchased digitally via iTunes and yes they look good and sound good as well and very convenient. But lets face it we do not own digital content and there are a few instances where we could loose that content or not be able to access it. I just wish more people would realize there is a good reason to buy physical media. I do buy digital but I spend more on physical than I do digital. To many people want it now and do not want to wait and that more than anything drives digital sales IMHO. I have know that digital has surpassed physical sales but not to that degree.

If you throw out the numbers for subscriptions and rentals, and only compare movie purchases, physical IS still outselling digital (13% to 10%)

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If you throw out the numbers for subscriptions and rentals, and only compare movie purchases, physical IS still outselling digital (13% to 10%)

What that tells me is that fewer and fewer people are buying particular content to own and watch, as the majority instead prefer to just subscribe to a service and watch whatever they can find there. it doesn't matter whether it's discs or digital, most people are not interesting in buying individual titles anymore.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Agreed, Scott. I’m not really convinced they ever really wanted to buy individual titles, for the most part, in the first place. I think renting videos was such a hassle in the 80s and 90s, with not great selections, not great quality, needing to leave the house twice, and fees left and right, that in the end, buying a DVD was just easier. I think a lot of people thought they’d rewatch things more than they did, and discovered that other than kids with Disney stuff, that they liked a movie didn’t translate into wanting to see it again and again.

Subscription streaming ends up providing a lot of the benefits of video stores and premium movie channels with the convenience of pay-per-view (the old ways of seeing a movie at home without owning it), all at a low monthly cost that doesn’t require a contract or charge cancellation fees, and doesn’t ask you to leave the house or ever cause you to face a sold out/out of stock scenario. That pretty much meets the needs of most people most of the time.

 

[Cranston37+]

But lets face it we do not own digital content and there are a few instances where we could loose that content or not be able to access it.

This is probably the #1 reason physical lovers give for liking discs, but when only 10% of the market seem to be buying digital in the first place, it really isn’t all that important anymore...

Agreed, Scott. I’m not really convinced they ever really wanted to buy individual titles, for the most part, in the first place.

There is a ton of truth to that.

I remember back in the day (say mid 90’s) my decision to purchase movies came down to that being the only way I could see the movie. If Blockbuster didn’t have a movie I wanted to see, I had no other choice. Then Netflix DVD by mail came and my purchasing went down because they had so much available. Now with subscription streaming my movie itch is easily met and my purchases in 2019 were down to a few $4.99 titles.

I was never a collector, I was a movie watcher. And the easiest, cheapest way for me to watch the most I can and in the best quality is the path I have historically taken.

 

[Sam Posten]

There's maybe 20 titles people want to own (and those 20 titles are different but a close venn diagram) for everyone.

Everything else after that can be ephemeral.

4k Atmos streams are better than good enough for 99% of people.

Keeping disks going to get the absolute highest quality to a speck of people is a fools errand.

 

[Bryan^H]

Physical sales $3.29 billion -18.2% 13% of market
Digital sales $2.60 billion +5.1% 10% of market

Physical rentals $1.44 billion -19.50% 6% of market
Digital rentals $1.96 billion -6.20% 8% of market

That is surprising. Not the fact that streaming services are ruling the world. That I expected. But physical purchases are still ahead of digital (although not by nearly 50% from last year). I thought the numbers would be a lot closer. I guess people just don't want to "own" much anymore.

The rentals #'s are simply baffling. Physical rentals are still a thing alongside the easy as pie/no hassle digital rentals?
Wow

 

[Cranston37+]

That is surprising. Not the fact that streaming services are ruling the world. That I expected. But physical purchases are still ahead of digital

If they continue the trend they headed in this year that should be switched around in 2020. I kind of suspect too that physical gets a little boost from digital codes being included with them. More attractive buy...

Physical rentals are still a thing alongside the easy as pie/no hassle digital rentals?

I think internet availability may be the driving that part of the market. Those with slow or no internet get their Redbox rental on the way out of the grocery store.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Vudu has a bunch of westerns on sale for $4.99!

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Vudu has a bunch of westerns on sale for $4.99!

Some really good titles in there, just got Rio Bravo and will probably pick up a few more .

 

[BobO'Link]

If you throw out the numbers for subscriptions and rentals, and only compare movie purchases, physical IS still outselling digital (13% to 10%)

That surprised me. I really thought digital sales would be higher than physical.

What that tells me is that fewer and fewer people are buying particular content to own and watch, as the majority instead prefer to just subscribe to a service and watch whatever they can find there. it doesn't matter whether it's discs or digital, most people are not interesting in buying individual titles any.more.

And that's not unexpected in the least. I've known few people who want to own discs with most being quite content with rental. Streaming services pretty much trump rental of any format with the amount of content for a small fee and most movies eventually find their way to a streaming service. People I know just don't seem to care that much about staying "current" with movie releases and are content with what ever's offered on their streaming services.

That is surprising. Not the fact that streaming services are ruling the world. That I expected. But physical purchases are still ahead of digital (although not by nearly 50% from last year). I thought the numbers would be a lot closer. I guess people just don't want to "own" much anymore.

The rentals #'s are simply baffling. Physical rentals are still a thing alongside the easy as pie/no hassle digital rentals?
Wow

There are still a lot of people who do physical rentals in my area. My daughter does them occasionally with Redbox (there's one less than mile from her house with several in town in "prime" locations) - in spite of having good internet speed, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. I'm pretty sure she's mostly taking advantage of the free codes but does occasionally pay for a disc rental over just renting it digitally. I've never asked why.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Some really good titles in there, just got Rio Bravo and will probably pick up a few more .

Some of those western titles are SD only so be careful when purchasing them during this sale.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Some of those western titles are SD only so be careful when purchasing them during this sale.

That's why I am reluctant to buy SD or HD digital versions on Vudu - - they do not provide free upgrades when a higher resolution version becomes available, like Apple does.

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's why I am reluctant to buy SD or HD digital versions on Vudu - - they do not provide free upgrades when a higher resolution version becomes available, like Apple does.

I don't think iTunes upgrades SD to HD.

 

[Mark-P]

I don't think iTunes upgrades SD to HD.

They don’t. There seems to be confusion about this because some of the early digital codes that originally redeemed as SD got upgraded to HD when Movies Anywhere started up. But anything actually purchased in SD stays that way until you buy the HD version. I do wish “tier level” purchasing would go away so that you could just buy a title without ever being stuck at lower resolutions, but that’s unlikely to happen.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Some of those western titles are SD only so be careful when purchasing them during this sale.

Thanks, I’m also checking the Vudu aspect ratio thread on their forum to make sure of that.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I don't think iTunes upgrades SD to HD.

I have never bought a SD version of a film, so I was just assuming. Thanks for the clarification.