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Digitalbits
Yeah, I know it's actually 7 PM on Monday evening. So what. Let's get an early start on our Tuesday morning post. Why? Because why the heck not? Plus, it'll save me having to get up at 5 AM, and it'll give you something to read over your morning coffee too. That's what they call a two-fer.
Real quick, before we get started: Our own Russell Hammond has once again updated the Upcoming DVD Cover Art section with all the latest DVD, Blu-ray and HD-DVD cover scans and Amazon pre-order links. So if you're a cover art connoisseur, and we know that many of you are, enjoy.
Okay... so the latest hardware sales data from market research firm NPD Group is in, and it reveals that - as one would expect - HD-DVD player sales have also been impacted by the news of Warner's decision to drop the format later this year. One quick note: The data that follows does NOT include sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 or the HD-DVD add-on drive for Microsoft's Xbox 360. These are stand-alone, set-top players only.
First up, let's look at the month of December (weeks ending 12/8 to 12/29), along with the first two weeks of January (weeks ending 1/5 and 1/12)...
As you can see, Blu-ray Disc players outsold HD-DVD players in the month of December here in the States by about a 60/40 margin, and that split has grown to 70/30 in favor of Blu-ray in the first half of January. This despite the fact that HD-DVD players were (on average) some $200 cheaper than Blu-ray players throughout the holiday shopping season.
But the most striking revelation in the data is the change in the hardware sales ratios between the first and second weeks of January (ending 1/5 and 1/12), reflecting the impact of Warner's announcement (and the mainstream media reaction). The graphs below show player sales for each format both before and after Warner's 1/4 press release...
As you can see, HD-DVD player sales dropped dramatically in the week after Warner's announcement, while Blu-ray Disc player sales nearly doubled over the same period.
Nevertheless, Universal Studios Home Entertainment EVP of high-def strategic marketing, Ken Graffeo (also the co-president of the North American HD-DVD Promotional Group), continues to emphasize his studio's support of HD-DVD in a new interview with BetaNews. Among the comments Graffeo makes, he says that in the wake of Warner's decision to drop HD-DVD, retailers "want to wait for what the consumer does. We've always said we want to follow the consumer." He later adds, "Where the consumer has a say is what they do and what they purchase. That's probably the biggest statement that could be made." And once more, near the end of the piece: "I think anything is possible, and again it comes back to the consumer who has the final voice." Given this, it will be interesting to see what Universal does if the hardware and software sales numbers continue to favor Blu-ray going forward in 2008.
Graffeo also comments thusly on recent rumors (which The Bits, Daily Variety and other publications have reported), to the effect that Universal may change its high-def support status by the end of 2008: "First of all, I want to say that none of those rumors were substantiated. Nobody ever talked to us." For the record, when we attempted to contact Graffeo for an interview on this very subject upon returning from CES, we were told the following: "No one at Universal is commenting on or off the record on this subject currently."
In addition, we'd like to point out that nothing in this interview precludes Universal from announcing a move to support Blu-ray at some later date in 2008. What Graffeo says is: "This is business as usual for us and there are no plans to make any changes." You'll recall that Warner had no plans to abandon their dual format strategy... until the day they suddenly did. The same could be said for Paramount and DreamWorks last year, when they decided to support HD-DVD exclusively - a change of policy so sudden that even most of their own employees didn't know about it until the morning it was announced. You can be sure that Universal will continue to officially have no plans. Until they suddenly do.
In terms of news 'round the Net today, Oscar nominations are due in later this morning. Not sure if anyone still cares. Not even sure if we still do, but you know, we have to report such things.
In other news, There Will Be Blood is a pretty damn great little flick, in case you were wondering. Matt and I checked it out on Saturday. I'm betting Daniel Day-Lewis will be among the names revealed later this morning.
Also today, Cloverfield has already turned a profit, or so they say. And here's that Star Trek teaser trailer we mentioned on Friday, all sparkly and official like. Enjoy.
Stay tuned...
Ondanks de lagere prijzen van HD-DVD voor het hele Warner verhaal, verkocht Blu-ray al beter qua hardware.
Laatst bewerkt: 22 jan 2008