Andre Yoskowitz
7 Dec 2009 16:07
Despite the large growth of Blu-ray on the whole over the past two years, a few studios have scaled back on their TV series releases in Blu-ray, rolling back to DVD-only releases.
A few of the series in question are Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me and Damages, popular on TV but apparently not as popular on BD.
Overall, TV series on Blu-ray sell only 5 percent of the copies they do on DVD, compared to 15-25 percent for most new releases in both formats.
The discrepancy in sales can mainly be attributed to the larger pricing differences, which can be over $10 for most releases. For example, the price difference of a DVD and Blu-ray of a new release (such as Harry Potter 6) can be under $5 while most, if not all TV series have a difference of over $10, with some as high as $20 for premium cable channel programming.
“The significant amount of content and multiple discs make the financial model challenging for many TV series on Blu-ray and is a significant reason for the methodical approach studios are taking to release product,” added Rosemary Markson, VP of TV marketing for Warner Home Video, via VB. “Unfortunately, Nip/Tuck Blu-ray sales were insufficient to continue releasing in the format.”
Some TV shows outperform however, but not enough for the entire industry to remain in Blu-ray at this point.
“Over half of our Mad Men copies sold on Blu-ray,” noted David Barker, VP of e-commerce marketing at DeepDiscount.com. “But there’s The Office, with a $69.99 SRP Blu-ray and $59.99 SRP DVD, where just under 5% of copies sold in high-def.”