Death, thy name is DVD
A change in media formats over time is an inevitable thing. It seems like just yesterday people were having their VHS tapes eaten by their VCRs and nowadays, how infuriating is it to have to report a skipping disc to Netflix then wait days for the replacement? In the not so distant future it looks as though people’s woes with skipping DVDs and Blu-rays will be a thing of the past. No, the formats aren’t improving – it’s just that physical media appears to have one foot in the grave.
An article in Ubergizmo brings less than favorable news about the DVD format. Apparently in Q1 of 2011, DVD sales went down an entire 20% in comparison to Q1 2010. Ubergizmo writer George Wong said, “Studios blamed the fall in sales due to quirks in release cycles,” but there is more going on here.
It’s no coincidence that DVD sales are down 20% and Netflix rose 33%. It looks as if streaming may have been solidified as the next step in home entertainment. Mong brought up a good point in that, “33% growth might not mean much if the total number of Netflix subscribers don’t surpass the amount of consumers that still purchase DVDs.”
That is yet to be seen in the future but it looks like discs are out, at least for video content. Especially considering that there are other video streaming sources to be brought into consideration here, DVDs may have a shorter lifespan than on would have expect a few years ago.
