23 Feb Why the Disc Format Has Yet to Die for Some TV Series [Variety VIP+]
BY KAARE ERIKSEN
February 22, 2023 | As the Digital Entertainment Group, the trade association for home entertainment, tells it, business is better than ever: The U.S. consumer spend on home entertainment grew 11.4% year over year in 2022, totaling nearly $37 billion.
Of course, success depends on how you define “home entertainment”: Essentially none of that growth came courtesy of anything other than streaming, let alone DVD sales of any kind.
When you remove SVOD from the equation, the truth is tough but unsurprising — outside of theaters, people are increasingly losing the urge to pay for individual films or TV series, with all rentals and physical sales continuing to decline on an annual basis.
One apparent exception to this is digital sales made across platforms like Amazon, Apple TV and Vudu. Digital sell-through commands the largest share of home entertainment spend after streaming and increased ever so slightly in 2022. That said, it’s important to remember that the scaling back of COVID restrictions throughout 2021 meant 2022 was the first (relatively) normal year at the box office since the pandemic started.
As a result, more films from major studios were released in theaters and subsequently hit their digital windows sooner, per a bevy of deals Hollywood has worked out with exhibitors.
But the key word there is films. TV is a different situation.