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Hardware Blu-ray Total Sales Surpass HD DVD
Marcus Yam (Blog) - February 27, 2007 8:13 PM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 73 comment(s) - last by spranger.. on Mar 2 at 3:03 PM
The HD format war continues as Blu-ray takes the slight edge

The latest sales numbers appear to indicate that Blu-ray has taken the lead over HD DVD in terms of title sales since inception. According to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data, cited by Home Media Magazine, Blu-ray has racked up a slight lead in unit sales -- 100 units to every 98.71 units of HD DVD.

Up until the recent market stats released by Nielsen VideoScan, HD DVD held the lead in overall titles sold. Some attribute HD DVD’s previous lead to the format’s head start and less expensive players. Blu-ray Discs experienced a considerable surge in sales following the holiday season, eclipsing HD DVD sales numbers by two to three times.

The launch of the PlayStation 3 helps explain Blu-ray’s increased pace, though Ken Graffeo, head of HD DVD affairs at Universal Studios Home Entertainment—an HD DVD-only supporter—isn’t convinced in Sony’s console sway. “Given that the life-to-date title sales ratios are close to 1:1, and given that Blu-ray has a 5:1 ratio right now on the hardware side due to the PS3, why aren’t Blu-ray software sales outpacing HD DVD by a similar ratio?” he asked. “In fact, HD DVD players continue to have an attach rate (life-to-date) that is more than five times that of Blu-ray players.”

Another facet to Blu-ray’s recent success could simply be due to greater availability of new titles. The current selection of movies on Blu-ray and HD DVD are neck-and-neck, but Blu-ray has released more titles as of late. According to Home Media Magazine, there have been 35 Blu-ray releases to 19 for HD DVD, many of which have been costlier HD DVD/DVD combo discs.

“Seeing HD DVD in our rear-view mirror is no surprise to us,” said David Bishop, worldwide home entertainment president, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “It has always been Sony’s position that there would be an inevitable migration from HD DVD to Blu-ray because of several factors, including the technical superiority of Blu-ray, the successful launch of PlayStation 3, the growing availability of BD playback machines and BD-enabled computers from the best consumer electronic brands in the world, as well as the growing number of hit titles being made available on the BD format.”

While executives of either HD DVD or Blu-ray exclusive studios thump their chests, movie studios such as Warner and Paramount appear happy to sell movies to the faithful on both sides. “We’re not in this for winning or losing,” said Steve Nickerson, SVP of market management for Warner Home Video. “Both formats are selling well on software.”

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NOT Surprised
By Marlin1975 on 2/27/07, Rating: 0
RE: NOT Surprised
By Spartan Niner on 2/27/07, Rating: 0
RE: NOT Surprised
By MrDiSante on 2/27/2007 9:49:06 PM , Rating: 3
Key word here being "addon". Meaning that it's not forced down your throat. As for Microsoft inflating numbers - unlikely, HD-DVD isn't their baby, it's more of a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of thing. The others may well be inflating their own numbers though.


RE: NOT Surprised
By clayclws on 2/27/2007 10:16:18 PM , Rating: 1
quote:
it's not forced down your throat


I guess Sony has a winning strategy there... although not that enticing...


RE: NOT Surprised
By BladeVenom on 2/27/2007 10:56:16 PM , Rating: 4
It may may be beneficial to Blu-ray, but I think it was bad for the PS3.


RE: NOT Surprised
By MrSmurf on 2/27/2007 11:02:33 PM , Rating: 3
You're probably right but missing two keys points. To some the PS3 is their Blu-Ray player and the PS3 is still a Blu-Ray player and should be included. After all this is why Sony included BR w/ the PS3.


RE: NOT Surprised
By plonk420 on 2/27/2007 11:45:45 PM , Rating: 5
if you've read ANY OTHER article, each one DIRECTLY says that the PS3 pack-in is not included with totals...


RE: NOT Surprised
By Gatt on 2/27/2007 11:52:37 PM , Rating: 2
Neilson doesn't count titles packaged with the Player, the movie in the PS3 box doesn't count. BR is outselling HD-DVD.


RE: NOT Surprised
By masher2 (blog) on 2/28/2007 12:04:43 AM , Rating: 1
> "Neilson doesn't count titles packaged with the Player..."

However, the movies sold via the $10 off coupon incentives packed with that PS3 do count towards that total.

And given Nielsen is counting the HD-DVD/DVD combo discs as DVD sales (rather than HD-DVD) those figures need to be taken with a grain of salt.


RE: NOT Surprised
By michal1980 on 2/28/07, Rating: -1
RE: NOT Surprised
By lufoxe on 2/28/2007 9:54:36 AM , Rating: 3
I believe this is an appropriate place to add either "????" or "wtf?"


RE: NOT Surprised
By Carl B on 2/28/2007 1:36:25 PM , Rating: 2
Why wouldn't the incentivized BD's be counted? You may disparage the rebates as skewing the numbers - but that's just sour grapes. It's a smart move by Sony, plain and simple.

Also the combo discs are counted as HD DVD sales as of February, and have been retroactively added in their entirety to the total HD DVD sales.

You can follow all the action here if you like:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=79...


RE: NOT Surprised
By masher2 (blog) on 2/28/2007 1:43:07 PM , Rating: 2
> "Why wouldn't the incentivized BD's be counted? You may disparage the rebates as skewing the numbers - but that's just sour grapes."

You miss the point. Sure those sales should be counted. But their effect is just a temporary blip...those coupons only last until they're used.

The real omission from the figures is the HD-DVD/DVD combo discs, which Nielsen doesn't count towards HD-DVD sales.


RE: NOT Surprised
By Carl B on 2/28/2007 1:52:22 PM , Rating: 2
You can't be serious - I *just* addressed that in my post; did you completely pass it over?

Nielson does account for the combo discs as HD DVD - and retroactively adds all previous combo sales to total sales numbers - beginning with their Jan 21st numbers.


RE: NOT Surprised
By masher2 (blog) on 2/28/2007 2:04:06 PM , Rating: 2
> "Nielson does account for the combo discs as HD DVD ..."

According to your own link, people are questioning whether or not that's actually true. I haven't seen any official pronouncement from Nielsen on the matter.


RE: NOT Surprised
By Carl B on 2/28/2007 2:09:44 PM , Rating: 2
That thread is 79 pages long. I'm not going to search it at this very moment, but within it are hard quotes indicating that the HD DVD cobos were ommited for the first two weeks of data, and that it has since been corrected.


RE: NOT Surprised
By Carl B on 2/28/2007 2:18:39 PM , Rating: 2
Ok, I actually *did* search it since I remember who posted it, and this is the direct link to where that issue gets clarified:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=96...


RE: NOT Surprised
By masher2 (blog) on 2/28/2007 2:21:49 PM , Rating: 2
And further down, users call that statement BS, as they themselves attempted to get a clarification from Nielsen and were refused.


RE: NOT Surprised
By Carl B on 2/28/2007 2:32:20 PM , Rating: 2
Well, you're of course entitled to skepticism, but whatever else the case, SI numbers for HD DVD jumped significantly relative to BD in the Jan 21st report, and this was due to a recalculation *somewhere*. This is very much consistent with a combo consideration, and further I don't view Grubert's email from the online mag as having much to do with peoples attempts to contact Nielsen themselves; it would naturally seem the case that Nielsen would be more clammy on the subject than their clients.


RE: NOT Surprised