Physical Media 2020 Annual Update
Final Update For 2020 Physical Media Sales.
So for the first half of 2020 the mid-year update on the health of the plastic physical media and other formats looked to be very close to where it was expected to be…..down about 20% on 2019, in line with many of the previous year on year drops. Vinyl is going gang busters, so for us audiophiles things are still looking good to purchase those truly reference vinyl pressings, with revenues almost equaling those in 1988 and sales numbers exceeding those in 1990.
In a nutshell, and according to the Digital Entertainment Group and Media Play News, this is how things stand for those plastic discs or digital media packaged goods (figures rounded) in 2020:
- Q1 – sales – down 22% (21%)
- Q2 – sales – down 11% (10%)
- Q3 – sales – down 22% (23%)
Now at the end of 2020 we see the full picture and it isn’t too pretty.
Q4 – sales – down 32% (27%). A year on year drop of 26% (20%) over 2019.
See here for more detailed Mediaplay monthly reports.
See here for more detailed DEQ end of year reports.
See here for more detailed information on all music media formats.
So with double-digit drops in digital media sales where do the movie production houses, videophiles and lovers of great video like you and me turn? Time will tell.
However you slice and dice it, the sales of plastic physical media are dropping like a stone. The ‘good’ news is that 2020 was the year of COVID so there were few new movie releases and the movie industry concentrated on re-releasing golden oldies in up-converted and sometimes re-scanned 4K in order to keep their businesses models afloat. I have to admit that I purchased only a handful of these 4K re-releases this year. Why? On average, once I have viewed a movie 3 or 4 times I have no desire to purchase it again unless their is a significant reason. It is a bit like the re-released “audiophile” vinyl discs that I occasionally get seduced into buying. The improvement is so small that it doesn’t really add to my enjoyment unless, in the case of movies, I only owned an SD copy and the 4K version became available. Now we are generally talking of a worthwhile improvement in my enjoyment factor, especially if they have re-mixed the audio track to.
As new movies finally start hitting the market in 2021 I hope that sales will pick up. However, tens of millions of consumers now have to recover their jobs and income before they have money to spend on entertainment. There is no denying that plastic is slowly dying as the average consumer is content to view the up-servings of cable and streaming networks….. no matter what its quality! Is this the death of the videophile? Or will movie houses continue to release on plastic in 4K, HD and SD (sorry no 8K here folks) for the videophiles and enthusiasts amongst us? I truly hope so, even if it is at an elevated disc price; re: audiophile vinyl pressings at $45-$125 a pop!
A business is no business if you have no customers! So it’s up to us videophiles, general video enthusiasts and users to buy, buy, buy, these little plastic discs if we want to keep the highest quality video in our home theaters.
Clearly the cord cutting brigade and streaming is now taking a real bite out of those physical media disc sales, of which only 6% are 4K UHD and 20% Blu-ray HD, the remaining 74% all being SD DVD. (That latter number is quite laughable if it wasn’t so sad with the display industry pushing 8K televisions.)
It also looks to me as if COVID has put even more nails in physical medias coffin, pushing those shinny plastic discs closer to becoming a niche product, just like vinyl has. I suppose for those who have not seen better than SD DVD or streamed media, even HD or 4K, they have no idea what they are missing, and of course maybe they just do not care. Remember the old real estate adage “location, location, location”, the quality of the house was secondary? However, in this case it is “content, content, content”, rather than quality. Or should it be “convenience, convenience, convenience”, as the pace of life gets faster by the year?
Is good enough, now good enough, as the new generations (my daughter included) spend hours on line, tied at the hip to their cell phones and laptops and even more hours and days at work? For the movie production houses maybe getting rid of all the authoring, duplication and distribution headaches for plastic, even movie theater distribution, will ultimately boost their bottom line as the ever growing wave of streaming and PVOD turns into torrents. Profit can be a really big hammer!
Read more at The Digital Entertainment Group, Media Play News and RIAA web sites.
Assuming some super advanced algorithm codec provided STREAMING image and sound quality indistinguishable from physical discs, would you still want to purchase the disc? Is sense of ownership also a factor – seeing it on your bookshelf vs. instant on-line accessibility?
To me, if the quality is the same – and I know we’re not there yet – I’m good. I don’t need a truck delivering a disc to my house and then taking up storage space – for something I will watch once – maybe twice.
Jerry,
In a word yes, and I would even give up my predelction to own physical media. If streaming and/or cable services could deliver the same (or better) video quality and reliability that I get from a plastic disc for 4K video then I would move over. For the obvious reasons:
1. Cost
2. Convenience and
3. Selection
Unfortunately they certainly do not yet meet my video quality requirements, and if physical media sales continue their precipitous decline then I may have no choice unless the production houses keep supplying a niche group of users just like vinyl has.
However, I have never heard anything from any streaming provider that “sounds” better than many of my direct cut and other audiophile vinyl. This is according to my ears and professional studio experience NOT technical measurements!! On the other hand HQ audio streaming services for digital media are all but indistinguishable to plastic DVDA, CD and SACD, but old habits die hard so I continue to buy them and support the industry.
There are new compression algorithms that have allegedly been shown to provide the plastic 4K video experience at home from much lower streaming bit rates. However, to date these new techniques and slightly higher bit rates are yet to be adopted by any providers. See my post here:
https://fromvinyltoplastic.com/h-266-versatile-video-codec/
To me, not providing your system with the highest resolution video and audio sources that it can handle is like me putting 87 octane in my stage1 GTI it just will not perform. So why have a top-of-the-line 4K immersive home theater system if you are going to feed it low resolution material (most of the time)?
Paul