BD bounces back big -- Nielsen ratings
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Me, too.
At this point, format doesn't have to matter to me. If there is a movie I want, I can buy it on whatever format it is offered, wherever I can find it the cheapest. I'm very glad that I no longer have to worry what format LOTR, Star Wars, etc will be release in, because I'm covered either way.
I will say, however, that if you put two versions of the same movie in front of me, for the same price - one blue, and one red - I will pick the blue one every time. Just habit, I guess.
If the red one is cheaper and/or I have need of a combo disc for the kids to watch in the car, I'll go Red, but so far the titles the kids want are all heavily weighted toward the blue side.
The other thing I haven't seen mentioned is that I'm not sure you can assume the same attach rate will hold out for all of these new players. A lot of people are getting them because they're cheap, but will still by DVD most of the time, and a lot of people (like me) are buying them as a secondary to another player (either format) that they already have.
Most of the people who bought before the big $98 sale were people who typically go for new stuff and have the money to spend (and the desire to spend it) $25-$30 on a movie, but there will be a decent number of people out of that 90k who bought new players that will still by DVD or BD first and/or were just getting an HD-DVD player for their 2nd TV, meaning they won't significantly increase disc sales one way or the other.
I could be totally wrong, but it's a thought...
Most of the people who bought before the big $98 sale were people who typically go for new stuff and have the money to spend (and the desire to spend it) $25-$30 on a movie, but there will be a decent number of people out of that 90k who bought new players that will still by DVD or BD first and/or were just getting an HD-DVD player for their 2nd TV, meaning they won't significantly increase disc sales one way or the other.
I could be totally wrong, but it's a thought...
The BD group obviously disagrees with you. The studios want to sell titles not players. Right now the strategy seems to be:
HD-DVD: sell players cheap, attract buyers, and surely they will want HD-DVD titles to watch on their new players.
BD: Prime the pump with cheap movies, get those PS3 people used to watching HD on the PS3, increase the attach rate, leading to more sales of movies. If you are way ahead on the # of possible players already in homes why discount the hardware.
Who says Warner (or any company) is cutting prices on anything. They could be using BD marketing dollars on this. This is a manufacturers game. They are spending money to promote products. They can advertise by putting ads on TV, doing sales, cheap players (like Toshiba), etc. They each have their strategies.
Your post clearly shows limited thinking on product promotion. You could be right in the long run with HD-DVD strategy winning the war, or you could be wrong. But, blindly declaring one strategy an act of desparation is just blatent hype. The strategy BD is doing makes sense from Sony's point of view, why give away hardware when clearly you are selling plenty, and just need a better attach rate.
I am sorry but Sony's 5k, I am sure at least 2/3 of the people are buying BD Movies, and thats a fact.
For HD-DVD I cannot say the same because I don't keep in track of them, but if you do the math correctly Blu-ray comes on top on the discs sold chart.
For HD-DVD I cannot say the same because I don't keep in track of them, but if you do the math correctly Blu-ray comes on top on the discs sold chart.
Of course they are on top of discs sold when you count all of the ones they are giving away for free on BOGO deals.
Why do you keep saying they are giving them away, they are 1/2 off, that I would say is a great deal, I say buy them while you can. Funny how selling movies at 1/2 price is an act of desperation, but dumping hardware at low cost outlets is a brilliant business deal. Last year weren't these players like $400 that sure sounds like desperation to me.
SOny lost over 844 million last quarter on their PS3. They will lose over a billion on it this quarter. Movie sales profits will be cut in half due to all of the 2 fers. It is ultimately a losing strategy, a desperation move because they cannot compete on standalone player price and they are desperate to show Warner high software numbers. At some point they will have to stop the bleeding and sales will plunge. Their gains are temporary. However, Toshibas investment is long term.
I think you've had too much koolaid. The Sony posts are all the same:
"they are losing tons on the ps3 while Toshiba thrives by selling its player at $98"
The PS3 is a multi front battle. Yes BD is a part of it, but XBOX and WII are part of it too. Microsoft has lost billions on their gaming division over the years. One cannot blame the loss on BD alone. To simply say BD is going to lose since Sony lost $$ is not true.
Lets say an A2 cost Toshiba $198. They unload 100k of them in a special. This costs them 10 million dollars. Now this is generous since it probably costs a bit more than $198, not only do they have to make the machine, but there is markup from distributors and retailers. But, for this example lets just give it $100/machine. As a way to market HD-DVD they spend $10 million and sell 100k machines below cost.
BD group decides to spend $10 million for marketing by discounting 1 million discs by $10 (yes I know it really 10-14 but just for ease of example, and there is no way they really sold 1 million discs, but lets say repeating the promotion a few times).
Both marketing campains cost $10 million. Both are aimed at the perceived weakness of the product. HD-DVD needs to sell more machines to sell more discs and BD needs to sell more discs to the existing machines. Neither campain is desparate, both are just matching promotional dollars with their strength (lots of old machines to liquidate and lots of 2nd tier titles to get rid of).
Microsoft
Market cap................ 320 Billion
total cash on hand.......18 Billion
total debt...................0
Sony
Market cap..................47 Billion,
total cash on hand........4 Billion,
total debt....................11 Billion
Diogen.
You forgot "Entering into another format war given their track record... Priceless"
Vurbano, those free discs are coming from the manufacturers and studios. Neilsen has NEVER counted freebees - onlyretail sales from the manufacturers or studios where money actually changes hands. Have you ever worked retail? Time and time again a manufacturer or studio trots out shelf numbers and Neilsen post actual sales that shows the misdirection.
But lets see if what you say has legs. Toshiba sold what, 98,000 HD-DVD players on one day and each sell received 5 free discs? That total if counted for disc sales would be 490,000 discs for the week, almost HALF of what HD-DVD has sold all year to date. If Neilsen were to count those freebees as sales then HD-DVD sales ratio to BD should not of dropped to 29% last week? Heck, if all the five free discs that HD-DVD players sold this year were actually counted, HD-DVD would not even be behind in discs sales 2 to 1 for the year. Real world numbers Vurbano, real world numbers.
Sony's electronics division is making a ton of money right now. Sony's LCDs are currently only matched by Samsungs LCDs. This makes sense since they co-own glass facilities. The gaming division has always lost money usually for the first 18 to 24 months of each generation game system and it now seems as if the same will be true this generation too. With the gaming division looking to break even by the end of March 08 that would mean the PS3 would start making money for Sony by the summer of 08 and that is right on track.
The only company in the video console business besides software publishers that is making money right now is Nintendo. They always have and they always will, that is why they are still around. The gaming divisions of both Sony and Microsoft still have a ways to go to make profit -- it is going to have to come from software sales and manufacturing cost reduction of which both companies have made great strides.
The only company in the video console business besides software publishers that is making money right now is Nintendo. They always have and they always will, that is why they are still around. The gaming divisions of both Sony and Microsoft still have a ways to go to make profit -- it is going to have to come from software sales and manufacturing cost reduction of which both companies have made great strides.
