Home Video Sales and Rentals Strong Despite Recession
Home video sales and rentals are remaining strong in the face of an increasingly weak economy and challenges from Internet movie downloading and streaming services. It seems that the lure of on-demand entertainment and new technologies (Blu-ray) is still a tantalizingly potent brew.
DVD and Blu-ray sales are up 1.6% from the first half of 2007, with sales totaling $10.77 billion for the first half of 2008. Rental spending rose from $3.8 billion from the first six months of 2007 to $3.9 billion in 2008. Compare that with a total of $118 million in digital downloads last year and the hype surrounding the downfall of traditional entertainment sales quiets a bit.
Look. People need entertainment. It's still a whole lot cheaper to buy a DVD or two than it is to go out for dinner and a movie. And it's still a better deal to rent a DVD, which you usually get to keep for at least a week, than it is to rent a downloaded movie, which you only have 24 hours to watch once you press Play.
Mystery solved. [Source: Hollywood Reporter, via Yahoo]
