DVD sales grow, buck trend of CDs
Roberto Rocha,Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, July 17, 2008
MONTREAL -- Sales of DVDs have grown impressively this year, despite an economic slowdown and the threat of online piracy.
WhileCanadian retailers aren't disclosing precise numbers, some major chainshave reported double-digit rise in sales, partly fuelled by the newgeneration of high-definition discs and greater investments in hometheatres.
"We anticipated flat growth, but we're definitelyseeing good sales," said Jennifer Pollock, merchandise manager formovies at Future Shop, which is owned by Best Buy.
"People are looking for a better experience of enjoying content in their homes," she said.
KenKirkwood, spokesperson for retailer HMV Canada reported double-digitgrowth in DVD sales, especially with Blu-ray high-definition discs,which won the next-generation format battle against HD-DVD.
Thesetrends abet figures coming from the U.S. Consumer spending on DVDs andBlu-ray in the first six months of the year for purchases and rentalswas up 1.6% from spending in first-half of 2007, according to HomeMedia Magazine's market research department. The first half of 2008tally: $10.77 billion US, compared with $10.6 billion US a year ago.
Spendingon discs rose 1.1%, to $6.87 billion U.S. from $6.8 billion US. Rentalspending rose 2.6% to $3.9 billion US from $3.8 billion US, accordingto the trade publication.
Home entertainment industry analyst TomAdams isn't surprised about the continued health of the packaged mediabusiness, despite the perception that online piracy is eroding therevenues of the entertainment industry.
"Most analysts aretechno-geeks with plenty of money and not much time, while mostAmericans are not technically savvy, and they have plenty of time butnot much money," said Adams, president of Adams Media Research.
"Thefact is, despite what many on Wall Street seem to think, there is verylittle digital downloading going on. We're talking about $118 million(US) in 2007 spending, and about $254 million (US) this year – soagainst a $24 billion (US) packaged media market, it's really notmaking much of a dent at this point."
The victory of home moviescasts a strong contrast against CD sales, which have been steadilyfalling since 1998, according to Heritage Canada. The CanadianRecording Industry Association last reported a 35-per-cent decline inmusic sales in the first quarter of 2007, which it blamed onpeer-to-peer file-sharing networks like BitTorrent.
CRIA'sfigures, however, have come under intense scrutiny, as they onlyreflect sales of physical CDs by major record labels. They do notinclude independent artists and digital music sales through onlinestores. It also does not consider cultural shifts in the way peopleconsume music.
Canadians increasingly buy songs online or throughtheir cellphones rather than entire albums in stores, Heritage Canada'smusic annual report of 2007 noted.
But movies are also sellingmore because they occupy a greater chunk in young people's leisuretime. Daniel Levitin, a professor at McGill University and author ofthe upcoming book The World in Six Songs: How the musical brain createdhuman nature, says this makes music less important for young consumers.
"Whetherthey buy it or download it, music has less meaning for them thanbefore," he said. "Music used to be what you had. Now movies havebecome more available and convenient as a pastime."
Montreal Gazette, with files from Reuters