Buyer's market for low-priced DVDs, more cheap DVD movies released in 2002

April 2, 2003

It seems that the movie
industry finally understands it, if the price is right people will buy it! While
music CDs are too expenive to many people, movies are sold for a lot less. While
you can rent a movie (for 5 days) for USD 5,- you can also buy one for
about the same price. Of course there will always remain
people who don't want to pay, the majority of the market is likely to
buy a legal copy instead of getting a pirated copy for this price.

John Quinn, executive vice president at Warner Home Video, says
the real trigger is demand by retailers and consumers. The big chains
typically sell new releases at or below cost, "so the margins on these
low-priced DVDs tend to be higher," he says. And consumers are responding.
"Even a movie that's not an Academy Award winner will sell at the right
price."

Jeff Slankard, 49, a wine buyer from San Diego, has about
75 DVDs and rarely buys new releases that cost $15-$20. Those, he rents.
"But to round out my collection, $5 DVDs are a bargain," he says. Most of
these cheap DVDs carry suggested list prices of $9.98, but the wholesale
cost is low enough that retailers can still profit by selling them for
less, analysts say.

More information can be found in this article on the USAToday.com. It also states that in
2002 1,150 DVDs priced below $10 were released, up from 939 in 2001 and
only 359 in 2000.

Source: USAtoday.com