Blu-ray extending lead without promos?

The Blu-ray disc format is continuing to show clear gains over HD DVD in the second week after the potentially decisive Warner conversion to Blu-ray, according to the latest issue of Home Media Magazine. The industry publication notes that Blu-ray represented about 83 percent of movie sales were for Blu-ray versions of movies, leaving the remaining 17 percent to HD DVD. All of Nielsen VideoScan's top ten sellers for the week of the 13th were Blu-ray editions while all of the top all-time sellers are either exclusive to the format or available both in Blu-ray and HD DVD, the publication adds.

The results also come in the aftermath of promotional campaigns that offer two movies for the cost of one, reducing the likelihood that customers had been buying Blu-ray at unfairly inflated rates due to incentives. Recent news that Blu-ray accounted for 93 percent of HD hardware sales supports the claim but is believed to have been partly affected by campaigns that gave away free Blu-ray players with TVs from format backer Sony and other manufacturers.

Such news suggests a potentially longer-term impact on HD DVD from Warner's abandonment of HD DVD, which leaves less than 30 percent of movies available in the format and is already understood to be having an effect on the decisions of retailers and computer makers to support the standard, which is chiefly promoted by Toshiba as well as movie studios Paramount and Universal.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: blu-ray, HD DVD, Nielsen