Best Buy To Exit Physical Media
All Image Credit: Best Buy
According to Bill Hunt, the editor of the LA based Digital Bits web site, “Best Buy plans to exit the physical media business for good next year, possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024”.
This includes both in-store and on-line sales of DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD discs, with no more Steelbook titles. This is not all too surprising as my visits to my local Best Buy have shown a continually dwindling display of discs. Stopping selling store product is sort of understandable but stopping all on-line sales is quite draconian.
Something was obviously going on when I noticed that Paramount Blu-ray and 4K Steelbook releases, normally reserved as Best Buy exclusive titles started appearing on Amazon instead.
According to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), US streaming demand rose by 20%, while physical media sales fell by more than 28% in the first half of 2023. Clearly this continuing trend it is having a real impact on all shiny disc revenues and business models.
With Walmart now looking at other distribution models and Target stores continuing to scale back physical media sales, this is going to move the bulk of DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD physical media sales into the hands of Walmart, that has the largest share of this market (>45%), Amazon and Target.
As a retired videophile and audiophile, this raises two questions in my mind; first, are the days of affordable disc prices about to fade away, as there will be little competition and secondly, is this going to still further accelerate the demise of these only high quality sources of video and audio?
Ultimately is this going to impact HT equipment sales? Why spend a “fortune” on super high-end equipment that has the ability to massively out perform what any streaming service, that I have viewed, can offer?
I do not believe that this hails the end of that shiny plastic disc (yet), but together with Netflix ceasing DVD distribution and Disney’s latest Australian activities, it certainly drives yet another nail into the coffin. On the other hand, they said that vinyl was a dead format….well, they were wrong about that too.
So keep buying and stocking up on those DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD discs to show the Major and Indie studios, and distributors that we still want (and need) them.
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