DVD Sales Continue to Decline Year-on-Year – But Will It Ever Cease?
Are we surprised that DVD sales are continuing to decline year-on-year? Absolutely not. How many of you even have a DVD player in your home? And no, your PlayStation or Xbox doesn’t count. Most laptops don’t even come with a DVD drive anymore.
And now, with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+, and literally so many more that we’ll stop listing now, how do DVDs stand a chance? That’s not even accounting for the people who pay for a dodgy subscription downloaded onto an Amazon Fire TV Stick so they can watch football and the latest films.
The result? By 2024, the US DVD market dropped below $1 billion in total sales. Year-over-year, it was a 23.4% decrease. Will DVD sales ever cease to exist? Read on to find out.
Maybe Yes, Maybe No
Heavy on the maybe yes. All the articles online are talking about the US numbers, but the UK is even worse. The HMV boss told the BBC in 2024, “People are willing to pay for a physical copy of shows or films they know they will rewatch.” But we don’t necessarily think that’s the case. The digital entertainment and retail association ERA reported a drop in DVD and Blu-Ray sales by 4.7% in the first half of 2024. They also stated the “physical retail” of video sales has fallen 18.8% since 2018 to £169.7 million.
So, despite the HMV boss saying his business is in “good health”, we don’t necessarily think it’s the sale of DVDs that’s keeping it afloat, although he does say 4K DVD sales are performing well. But he did give a good reason as to why DVD sales may never fully cease to exist. He said. “People are willing to pay for a physical copy of shows or films they know they will rewatch.” And we think it couldn’t be truer…if people still own a DVD player. There’s something nostalgic about buying a DVD and rewatching it so much because you love it.
Online Platforms Are Thriving
The issue DVDs have is that online platforms across the board are thriving. It’s not only DVDs that have moved to streaming services. It’s everything. E-commerce, your weekly food shop, and casinos – everything has an online platform that people prefer.
It’s the same with e-commerce, particularly clothes shopping. In 2024, online sales of fashion items would collectively account for almost 1/3 of e-commerce revenue in the UK (Statista).
Most people reading this will agree it’s easier to open your phone, laptop, iPad, or whatever it is, and find an online platform than it is to leave home. Even more so at this time of year when it’s cold and grey in the UK.
Why People Prefer Streaming Services
Going back to DVDs, we can see why people prefer streaming services. And it’s for a similar reason as why people prefer online platforms. With two clicks of a button, you’re onto a streaming service. Most new TVs now have a button for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and YouTube, so it really is as simple as one click to turn the TV on and another to open the streaming service.
Despite the ridiculously high cost of these services, people still pay. And it’s more on the go. You can log into your streaming service account from any device and watch from anywhere in the world. Unless you’re with Netflix, they’ve stopped multi-household viewing unless you pay £4.99 per additional person.
We think there’s a sliver of hope for DVDs. People will still buy them for nostalgic reasons, but we do think they will eventually dwindle down to almost no sale. And let’s face it. Most of us would have to actually go out and buy a DVD player now!