Blu-ray outpaces HD DVD in January

Sony plans to declare Blu-ray winner in high-def format war

By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 2/9/2007

FEB. 9 | Two movies on Blu-ray Disc were sold for every one sold on the HD DVD format during January, according to studio sources.

Blu-ray backers attributed the gains to the fact that more titles were released on Blu-ray than on HD DVD during the month and to quick consumer adoption of Sony’s Blu-ray-enabled PlayStation 3 videogame machine. More than 1 million U.S. homes now have Blu-ray players, including set-top boxes and PS3s.

“I think finally everything that we knew going into this format has started to happen,” said Sony Pictures Home Entertainment worldwide president David Bishop. “We have a critical mass of content, we have the biggest mass of consumer electronics companies in the world supporting this format. That has moved Blu-ray into the forefront.”

Sony is so confident that Bishop said the studio plans to begin marketing the format to consumers as the winner of the format war.

“The message that we’re going to put out to the consumer now is, now it is safe to make a choice,” he said. “No more fence-sitting is needed.”

In fact, HD DVD sales are continuing at a steady pace, they just haven’t grown as fast as Blu-ray.

Twenty-five Blu-ray movies were released in January, compared to 11 titles on HD DVD.

Also, the top titles on Blu-ray outsold those on HD DVD during the first three weeks of January. Lionsgate’s Crank sold 7,500 units on Blu-ray, compared to HD DVD’s top seller for the period, Warner Home Video’s Batman Begins, which sold through 4,100 units, according to studio sources.

However, it’s hard to get an even comparison as not all movies are available on both formats. Crank was a new release and wasn’t available on HD DVD, and Batman Begins has been available on HD DVD since November.

On eProductWars.com, a site that tracks sales of both formats through Amazon, Warner’s Feb. 13 release The Departed, is the top-selling high-definition movie on both formats for the past 30 days (on pre-orders), with the Blu-ray version ranking as the 36th top-selling product and the HD DVD version the 45th as of Feb. 8.

Executives with the HD DVD Promotional Group weren’t available to comment on high-def disc sales.

Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment general manager of North America Lori MacPherson said the studio is promoting its Blu-ray movies to PS3 households to drive software sales and continue to build momentum.

“One of the things that’s so important is that Blu-ray has this big advantage because of PS3,” she said. “Obviously, that is really helping the installed hardware base.”

But retailers are less confident.

Best Buy spokesman Brian Lucas said the retailer believes there needs to be industry unification behind one format before victory is declared.

“The view around here is that something has got to be done definitively to get people off the bench,” he said.

Every studio but Universal Studios Home Entertainment is putting movies out on Blu-ray. Sony, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Buena Vista and Lionsgate support Blu-ray exclusively; Warner and Paramount Home Entertainment are releasing films on both formats; and Universal is releasing movies on HD DVD only.