Is the DVD industry in trouble? In recent years they have surrendered some of their profits to the cinema. Believe it or not, there was a time when people debated which would be bigger,box office receipts or DVD sales? And for a spell this was a legitimate question. But over the past three or four years, DVDs have hit the proverbial wall.
In 2009, DVD sales were off by more than ten percent globally, as media trends tend to suggest a growth in digital, online movie rentals. The cinema also experienced a grand renaissance, as box office receipts rose by more than fifteen percent.
What does this mean for DVDs? Well, they certainly aren't ringtones The truth is that the DVD industry has been in decline since new technologies like Blu-Ray have started to gain acceptance. Now, these new technologies still pale by comparison to DVD sales, which currently stand at about twenty-billion pounds.
But what we do know is that the market is nearing saturation. This means that most homes (about eighty percent) now use DVD players. That fact in and of itself does not spell death knell, but there are other factors that must be considered.
For starters, prices of DVD discs and players have been falling all over the globe. The reason for this is simple: the new technology (Blu-Ray) is clearly superior, and to encourage buying companies have had to slash prices. In the end, the DVD will almost certainly be replaced by the Blu-Ray when prices for the new technology fall to an acceptable level.
