There’s a lot of talk about digital distribution killing off physical media, especially in a world with super fast fibre broadband and high data plans. But the truth of the matter is that physical media is still selling well, and according to Danny Kaye, Executive Vice President of Global Research and Technology Strategy at 20th Century Fox, Australia is currently the top market in the world for number of entertainment transactions per person.
“Both our markets are made up of hugely avid DVD and Blu-ray fans,” according to Kaye. And judging by the statistics Kaye uses to back up that claim, Australians purchase – on average – 13 movies per person, compared to the U.S. which buys 11.4 per person per year.
What’s really fascinating is that even with those figures, there’s still a decline in sales since the heady days of 2004, when nearly a billion movies were sold on DVD and VHS in the U.S alone. But we’re still a long way from having digital distribution take over as the de facto method for movie consumption.
“It’s gone from almost a billion [sales]to a little less than 800 million. Now some people would say that the industry has died, and I would say, ’800 million of anything is a lot’. So it’s a pretty strong business, but we can’t ignore it” says Kaye.
At the moment, disc sales are still 95% of all sales, compared with the 5% of digital distribution. By 2012, that number will only grow to 9%, although obviously it doesn’t factor in piracy…
Flame
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 10:49 AMI wonder if/how that factors in TV-on-DVD purchases. I tend to get more boxsets that movies.
matt
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 10:59 AMthanks JB Hi-Fi
MrQuick
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 11:33 AMThat picture is ridiculous, I love it.
Blu-Ray coming to the forefront means that physical media sales should not fall that badly.
The digital equivalent of that kind of quality means you need to download 25gb for a single movie, not feasible currently.
Thank god for the NBN though.
Shane
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 11:36 AMThey why the hell are we on the “near to last” release schedule for…well just about anything!?!?!
matt
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 12:00 PMbecause:
13 * 22,000,000 < 11.4 * 300,000,000
12 times less, in fact.
also, there have been more than a few cases where we've actually beaten the US.
faction
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 3:02 PM13 per person per year? Wow, I’m doing my bit to keep it up there. I bought 95 DVDs and 5 BRs in the last financial year.
Even if I have the option to download something I won’t, the quality isn’t worth it unless you shell out a huge chunk of your download cap.
Trjn
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 3:22 PM13 per person per year? I think I might be helping to bump up that average slightly, I sometimes buy more than that per month. Now that I work within walking distance of more than 3 JB HiFis, it’s only going to get worse.
petey
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 4:31 PMI strongly suspect our numbers are higher due to the lack of digital options and restrictive broadband, rather than our enthusiasm for physical media.
Zac F.
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 8:21 PMOh yeah. Can’t wait for that NBN.
NickT
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 9:54 PMBetter digital options or broadband connection wouldn’t make a jot of difference to me either. I’ll always go physical media over digital, purely because of the insurance.
Speaking of insurance, how do digitally downloaded products get covered by house contents insurance? Do they need to be? I guess you can always re-download, assuming the originals are still available. But that could cost you a small fortune in bandwidth if you have a large collection
Craig
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 5:41 PMThe math looks wrong.
US population according to the US population clock is near enough 310 million. x 11.4 movies per year = 3.5+ billion movies per person per year…
3.5 > 1.
800m discs / 310m people = ~2.6 movies per person per year.
Interestingly 13 movies x 22m people is 286 million movies per year sold in Australia = 36% of US sales of 800m. That would never happen even with JB Hifi buy 2 get 1 free deals.
Craig
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 5:42 PMThe math looks wrong.
US population according to the US population clock is near enough 310 million. x 11.4 movies per year = 3.5+ billion movies per year…
3.5 > 1.
800m discs / 310m people = ~2.6 movies per person per year.
Interestingly 13 movies x 22m people is 286 million movies per year sold in Australia = 36% of US sales of 800m. That would never happen even with JB Hifi buy 2 get 1 free deals.
edit – mistake in my first comment.
gargravarr
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 5:44 PMGood. I really have no interest in downloaded movies until I have no choice. How do I get Blu-ray quality into my soon to be completed home theatre without the the disc? It’s not about 1080p, it’s the bit rate that provides the quality. Downloads are just not up to it.
Ha
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 5:44 PM“in a world with super fast fibre broadband and high data plans” – not Australia.
Davo
Monday, August 23, 2010 at 9:34 PMWith such overpriced ISPs and crappy download limits, Aussies aren’t blasting their caps on torrents like everyone else. It’s because we’re behind that we’re leading.