Google Report on DVD's Decline, Not Death

[MarcMorris]

Google can tell consumer interest in DVDs is waning because of how people use its search engine. DVD-related search terms have been on the decline at Google since late 2008 while Netflix has constantly grown. And that decline in search terms mirrors declines in physical media revenues. And while decline does not equal death, the study should provide further impetus to develop streaming media businesses models that will eventually replace DVDs and CDs.

Billboard: Google Report on DVD's Decline, Not Death

[Wes Moynihan]

My first thought about this was "How depressing"... Streaming does nothing for me, I still like to have my films sitting on a shelf housed in a sleeve or artwork. Nowadays I only buy DVDs and Blus that won't show up on TV - so mostly horror stuff and foreign language. I mean I'd like to own No Country For Old Men on Blu, but it's on TV almost every forthnight...

[jayzus]

One of the reasons for decline in DVD, is the rise of on-demand services with the same day/date releases. The industry has chosen to silently suffocate DVD by reducing the number of extras on a disc and maintaing the same retail price. Like bars of cocolate with increasing costs at the counter people are choosing cheaper alternatives. Interest in Blu Ray is increasing, but not at the same speed as VHS or DVD in its first five years and when BD players/recorders hit the same price as DVD machines, the cost of discs will now be a barrier to purchase.

The industry is at that crossroads., retail costs need to fall. Either the producers or retailers need to take a hit on their margins to persuade people to buy physical product. Sky are now using servers and gobbling up bandwidth to sell pay per view on their Anytime service and the campaign basically says rent, rent, rent, watch, watc, watch and buy as a second thought.