Physical media sales, including 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, are on the rise according to major UK retailer HMV (reported via BBC).
According to Phil Halliday, HMV’s managing director, “physical visual” sales have increased overall, citing that “4K and Blu-ray have been doing particularly well”. Reported figures suggest that HMV’s “visual category” has seen a rise of 5% in the first half of 2024 (as told to the BBC by a spokesperson).
Despite this rise in physical media sales for HMV, the digital entertainment and retail association, Era, reports that DVD and Blu-ray sales have dropped by 4.7% in the first half of 2024, meaning that sales overall are still in decline.
However, it is still positive news for the physical media market and follows other positives for the ‘declining’ format from earlier this year, including news that Sony will take over distribution of Disney’s physical media production after fears that Disney were aiming to kill 4K Blu-ray sales after stopping sales in Australia last year.
There was also confirmation earlier this year that two major US retailers have committed to stocking 4K, Blu-rays and DVDs in their stores – Gamestop and Fred Meyer – meaning new places to physically buy 4K Blu-rays.
Although sales are still in decline, it’s undeniable that there are a lot of efforts to try and keep physical media alive and in some cases, namely HMV’s, some retailers are seeing rising sales. When streaming is so theoretically easy and convenient, why is this?
Streaming sites aren’t all they’re cracked up to be
Streaming services have overtaken physical media in terms of popularity due to their vast libraries available with zero impact on your space, as there’s no need for physical discs. But, in the last year or so, there’s been a lot of negative backlash to some of the best streaming services, such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney Plus.
The main issue is price. Since the start of 2024 alone, we’ve seen an eye-watering price hike at Disney Plus in Australia & New Zealand (separating into two plans, with the Premium costing an extra AU$48 / NZ$48 per year), we’ve been warned to brace ourselves for another Netflix price increase this year and Max may also increase its prices in the US – up from the $19.99 it already costs for its 4K plan.
It was also reported in 2023 that Disney Plus and Netflix’s price increases meant that streaming costs more than cable TV for a lot of household, when saving money was one of the primary reasons to ‘cutting the cord’ from cable in the first place.
Another issue is ads. Streaming sites have now provided ad-supported tiers for less on their streaming sites, but some of these are as pricey as their standard, ad-free tiers used to be. Prime Video defaulted users to this new ad tier when it switched, and unless you pay an extra $2.99/£2.99 a month, you’ll be getting these ads – something that’s not going to happen with 4K Blu-rays.
Finally, another issue people face is the changing libraries. Too often, when people go to stream the best Netflix movies or best Prime Movies, they find the movie they want has disappeared, due to changes in business agreements. It’s frustrating to rely on one of these sites to store your favorite movies, only to find it’s disappeared months down the line – hence why people are turning to 4K Blu-rays and other physical media, so they can have a permanent copy without fear of it disappearing. Even in cases where you would think there’s no chance of a movie disappearing, it happens – the likes of Disney Plus and Max remove movies and shows that they themselves produced, for business reasons that are often left officially unclear.
Blu-ray revolution
When I tested the same movies on Blu-ray vs Netflix & Disney Plus, I found that picture quality wasn’t the main difference (although it was still superior on Blu-ray as shown by the comparison image above with John Wick 4 showing Prime Video left and Blu-ray right), but rather sound quality – which was leagues above on Blu-ray. It’s another fundamental reason why keeping physical media alive is so important: to give home theater fans the best-possible quality at home.
Combining the best 4K Blu-ray player, best TV and best soundbars gives a much more immersive experience than streaming really could and with streaming sites locking certain features such as 4K, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and more behind more premium prices, it adds even more value to 4K Blu-rays which carry a large chunk of these features on one disc.
Final thoughts
It’s great to see that there is some hope for the physical media industry and although sales may still be falling overall, I believe 4K Blu-ray isn’t dying. There’s efforts to keep it alive from Sony, retailers such as GameStop and HMV, and not forgetting the great work by companies such as Arrow Video and Criterion who provide excellent restorations, remasters and re-releases of classic movies, giving home theater fans the releases they’re looking for.
It’s important to provide an alternative to streaming websites that seem to think they can constantly change pricing, put in ads and change libraries whenever they feel like it. Now more than ever, physical media is important, as its success should send a message to these sites that its users have a limit on how much they’ll put up with.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
