Sony releases budget-sized TV DVD packaging
Complete series sets priced around $60
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 4/3/2008
APRIL 3 | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is introducing new budget packaging for its complete series sets, in an effort to squeeze growth out of the aging TV DVD genre.
Sony's new complete series packaging is smaller than for high-end sets.
The cases for upcoming releases Soap: The Complete Series and What’s Happening!! The Complete Series are constructed similarly to the way blank DVD packs are sold, with no space-taking material fitted between discs. Additionally, Sony’s stripped-down configuration does not feature any content not already released in previous Soap or What’s Happening!! individual season releases, spanning four and three installments, respectively.
This slim design cuts expenses for consumers, as both are priced at $59.95, marking $100 to $200 savings off of traditional complete series sets. Sony’s 10-season Seinfeld set carries a $283.95 list price; nine-season King of Queens, $232.95.
Plus, premium-priced complete TV series sets normally have such luxurious packaging, such as Sony’s King of Queens’ truck shape, that retailers must carve out special sections or endcaps in order to display them.
“We thought that we were missing an opportunity for a much wider audience by creating a value offer for the consumer who wants to collect an entire series but doesn’t need a high-end package,” said Marc Rashba, Sony VP of catalog marketing. “And [another] thing we looked at is how many retailers are really carrying a season three. To ensure that all seasons of a show are available in stores, here is an opportunity for a version that might ultimately replace the individual SKUs.”
Sony’s push to drive more business out of the TV DVD category coincides with stalling consumer interest in the genre, according to NPD. Last year marked the first time NPD recorded a drop in the percentage of consumers who said they bought a TV DVD title. In 2007, 7.7% of NPD’s consumer sample said they purchased a season set. For the preceding years, however, TV DVD shares were growing, starting in 2003 at 5.5%; 2004 at 6.3%; 2005 at 7.9%; and 2006 at 8.4%.
Containing four seasons over 12 discs, Soap carries the same spine width as one of the series individual season titles. Similarly, three-season, nine-disc What’s Happening!! whittles down the width of a typical complete TV on DVD set by a wide margin.
The studio has previously released all available episodes of these shows as single-season sets.
Rashba said Sony remains committed to offering both elite and budget complete series sets depending on the show and its target audience.
He declined to specify future titles to get a budget complete series release, but he promised more are on the table.
“Given the way the economy is going, this is a great way to program TV in your life so that it’s affordable,” he said. “The play is not to go after premium customers but offer a wider distribution of TV DVD to retail with this value product. They are small and can sit in stores a long time.”
