December 07, 2007

Are You Buying Fewer DVDs?

Ran across this post at Libertas, and apparently DVD sales will be down in 2007 from last year.

I personally never bought all that many DVDs unless I absolutely knew for a fact that I'd end up watching it again and again, if it had must-see special features or if I saw it priced as an absolute steal in some mega-superstore bin.

This past year, I rented from Netflix: "Transformers" (which no one in the house had yet seen), "Meet The Robinsons" (a favorite of my seven year old) and "Spider Man 3" (which the eleven year old couldn't wait to see again). Other than MTR, each of these were watched by my kids once and when I asked whether or not I should send it back to Netflix in every case I got an apathetic "yeah". If I had purchased any of them, I'd have been pretty pissed knowing that they'd probably have ended up sitting on my shelf unwatched.

I've bought a couple as gifts for Christmas for nieces and nephews who specifically asked for them. But I have no impulse to buy anything on DVD in the near future for myself except "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Even my buddy with the giant DVD collection hasn't really been buying any lately.

Anyone else finding this the case? (and don't comment with "I've never bought DVDs" - this question is obviously not for you)

UPDATE:
And another thing. I've noticed that many DVDs are now coming in two versions. One has a single DVD with the movie, reg. price $19.99 or so and the other is a two-disc "collector's edition", the second disc being all the special features and usually selling for $29.99 (except for the first week they come out in which case they're usually discounted by about $5 each). The two most recent examples would be "Harry Potter" and "Pirates of the Carribean 3: The Mind-bending Plot Dump"

Now I seem to recall that even movies with second discs (with special features) used to be standard at $19.99. This new packaging/pricing seems like a recent thing. And frankly, it's a real dick thing to do to consumers. Half the time the only reason to buy a DVD is for the special features.

So if the distributors are scratching their heads as to why DVD sales are going down, one answer may be the reaction to this "marketing" move.

A-holes.

Posted by Gary at December 7, 2007 02:15 PM | TrackBack
Comments

I am a big movie fan and (in general) I like to own stuff like this (I have so many books...), but these days I only buy a DVD either if (a) I absolutely want to own it and I know I will watch it again and again (my latest in this category was Death Proof, and even then it ended up costing $10.00) or (b) if it is a movie I like and the DVD is seriously discounted ($5 is about the limit for this). I often troll the $5.00 DVD box at Wal-Mart (which is sometimes annoying when I see $5 DVDs that I originally paid a lot of money for) and I have got some great deals at places like Best Buy who sometimes have good specials.

With the advent of Netflix I don't feel any real need to own everything I like and I don't have to buy a DVD just to see a movie that is fun to watch every so often. Netflix Rules.

My main problem with DVDs is the cost... there are very few DVDs that are so good that they justify a $15.00, or $20.00 (or higher) price. DVDs should cost $5.00 max for single DVD movies. For $5.00 a movie I would happily buy LOTS of DVDs.

As for illegal downloading? Meh. I am way too lazy.

Posted by: STEVE at December 7, 2007 03:23 PM

Yup. I decided I had too many DVD's when I bought The Bourne Identity SE twice: My Mac alerted me that I had watched it before. DO'H! I'm a Netflix guy now.

Posted by: Hucbald at December 7, 2007 05:11 PM

I won't pay full price for DVDs for myself [might buy a few for gifts during the holidays]. I really don't care about extras, I don't need 4 different commentary tracks.

At 5$, I'll buy something that I think I'll enjoy. At 10$, it has to be something I know I'll like, because I've seen trailers and it had a good rating from Film Threat.

Posted by: owlish at December 8, 2007 10:43 PM

We still buy DVDs and we do watch them. Mind you most are family/kid oriented, but they have to be tolerable to the adults in the family. We watch them on yucky days, when kids are sick and in car on our twice annual trek up North to Vermont. The DVD player in the car is the best thing we have ever gotten. It truly is, as according to Terry Ogelsby, a child passification and neutralization device.

Posted by: Sarah G. at December 8, 2007 10:50 PM

Until they straighten out the Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD fiasco on the high definition front, I won't buy a single DVD.

I don't intend to buy DVDs that are obsolete going into the transaction. And I also have no intention of buying the next Betamax.

Don't think I will be buying any for a long time.

Posted by: Zendo Deb at December 10, 2007 07:51 PM