DVD sales, rental growth slows in 2005

And industry-sponsored trade group reports a slowdown in the growth of sales and rentals as the DVD format matures.

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[fred dunn]

Give good content and that trend will reverse...

The available new DVD titles both for rent and for sale is nothing spectacular. Last years studio releases were nothing that I would go out and buy.

The studios are quick to blame other factors but what it comes down to is the lack of quality content during a very fiscally demanding year for consumers.

[skeptik]

at least they didn't mention P2P

One key phrase puts this all into perspective:
"The sales the group has reported mark a sharp slowdown from prior years' spikes."

In other words, last year was an exceptionally good year compared to other years and now that the spike is over, even though the industry still increased in both $$$ and units sold they see the past year as a loss. Amazing!
2003 = $11.6B
2004 = $15.5B
2005 = $16.3B
Somehow the entertainment industry sees record breaking sales as god-given right. Even in a economic slowdown.

I will speculate that as prices on DVDs dropped last year there was a swell in sales from people who suddenly saw value where there hadn't been before, but now that the initial increase of people preferring to buy a disc vs rent or skip it has passed we're seeing normal growth again.

[Razzl]

Greed is an amazing thing to watch

I agree with "mind" here that only people seized by greed could expect to make eternally increasing sales and profits, forever and ever. Economics 101 would have told anyone in charge of planning for their industry that sales will level at some point and from there you cultivate your fundamentals to keep the golden goose happy. The music industry forgot this to their peril, continuing to overprice while failing to cultivate new talent, and now music cd sales are down. The dvd distributors have just finished a year of foolish inventory dumping which may actually have increased their sales in numbers of units while driving down their profits--good for me and you, but don't go complaining in public when you shoot yourselves in the foot...