In an aim for the UK national press to attract readers, Sunday papers originally tried luring in customers by offering free CDs . Now, the Saturday papers have decided to follow suit by offering free DVDs with their papers. Many of these DVDs have comedies, movies or even a series that cost many times the price of the newspaper if purchased from a high street store. However, on the other hand, these DVDs lack the extras that the retail discs have, but according to consumers, a free movie is a free movie!
Some may ask - How can the papers afford to give away DVDs? Well, the papers take every cost cutting measure they can when replicating the discs and some rely on consumers to take a voucher to the store to pick up their free DVD, such that the papers only have to fork out for the DVDs that consumers chose to pick up. As millions of papers are distributed, the main cost cutting measure is getting the discs produced in mass-bulk by the millions. This effectively works out at 16p to 18p a disc, which covers the disc, cover & artwork royalties as well as the DVD royalty to Philips.
According to HMV, this gives a bad impression on the labels, making movies appear like they have very little value, since the price one pays in the retail shop covers the film production costs, distribution and marketing and not just the replication costs. In one week, 3 million DVDs were sold in the UK, compared to some 10 million given away with the papers.
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A DVD of the 1999 Bafta-winning British comedy East is East sells for about £5 on the High Street. Alternatively, you could have picked up a copy at your local newsagents at the weekend, free with the £1.20 Guardian. On the same day the Times was offering a DVD of the 1972 Liza Minnelli classic Cabaret (retail price about £15) while Independent readers could enjoy a free copy of the Oscar-winning Catherine Deneuve film Indochine, which would otherwise set them back about £8 in the shops. A film buff might point out that these giveaway DVDs lack the extras - subtitles, deleted scenes, etc - included in the shop-bought versions. But a free movie is a free movie. Which raises the question - how can papers afford it? They can't, says media commentator Roy Greenslade, at least not if they want to make money. But unlike other areas of business, the newspaper game has never been about profit. The great DVD giveaway is just the latest instalment in Fleet Street's endless turf war. |
As the majority of consumers are well aware of papers giving away free CDs and DVDs, it is no wonder that people are experiencing how much they are being ripped off when it comes to many music and movie titles in the UK. On the other hand, as these discs usually contain titles that are many years old, the music and movie industries should have no problem selling music and movies over a few years old for a tiny fraction of what they are charging at the moment.
Source: BBC News - Magazine
