Home Video Sales Down 14% in First Quarter

We've marveled at the strong box office performance this year, but new numbers indicate that the industry as a whole is more or less breaking even because of lost DVD revenue. Comparing the first quarter of 2009 to the same time frame last year, DVD sales slumped 14% to $2.9 billion. Curiously enough, that percentage nearly mirrors the increase in theatrical ticket sales from January - March. It's not all bad news for the home video industry; Blu-ray sales grew by over 100%, but it's still such a small segment of the total sales, that it doesn't boost the overall figures very much. Also, digital distribution was up predictably in the first quarter of the year, but again, because standard format DVD is still the overwhelming favorite nationwide, those gains are overshadowed. According to Reuters, the DVD sales slump really impacts film financing for the major studios, which have become increasingly reliant on the home video market to wipe out losses of some films or add to the total performance of others, but when the market is down roughly 15% despite growth in some segments of that industry, that clever accounting takes a big hit. There is also some potential negative influence are some of TV's more expensive series, which live and breathe off DVD sales in the current environment, since television advertising revenue is way off. So how big is the DVD market? It's roughly the same as the theatrical part of the business; total box office in the first three months was just shy of $3 billion, too, and remember, that illustrates about $450 million more than the same period in 2008.