"While Netflix is Shuttering its Disc Rental Business, the DVD & Blu-ray Disc Industry Still Generates $1.34 Billion Annually in the U.S.," blared a headline from the research company formerly known as the NPD Group, rebranded as "Circana" in March.
But if you're also wondering if Netflix left a perfectly still viable physical disc rental operation behind when it announced a few weeks ago the coming shuttering of its DVD.com business, know that this headline is at least a bit deceiving.
As a Circana rep confirmed to Next TV, the firm's "$1.34 billion" figure accounts for disc sales between March 2022 - March 2023, but not rentals of physical discs.
According to the Digital Entertainment Group, which gets sales data directly from studio suppliers, total physical rentals in the U.S. last year, kiosk and by-mail outlets included, totaled only $502.35 million. Netflix said it generated only $146 million last year renting discs.
For its part, Circana worked hard in today's announcement to sell the notion that disc purchasing is still a thing. In the U.S., the research company said, 26% of households have bought a disc title in the last six months. (Editor's note: We have not visited a single one of these households in the last six months.)
“Consumers continue to show interest in the nostalgia and collectability of physical media, notable as Record Store Day just celebrated its 15th anniversary,” said John Buffone, VP and industry advisor at Circana, in a statement. "It’s no surprise that in the height of streaming video era the DVD still holds a place in consumers’ hearts and on retailers’ shelves.”
Maybe ... but DEG reported a 20% year-over-year decline in U.S. disc sales last year.
One element of today's Circana announcement that didn't feel like complete B.S.: The company said that traditional standard definition DVD continues to significantly outsell Blu-ray, controlling 71% of the remaining sell-through market.
That means all those HD DVD-vs.-Blu-ray "Format War" discussions we had 18 years back were even more pointless than we thought.
