I found this to be very interesting. Any comments


What was not made clear in the presentation is that the PS3 – already 1 million units sold – was bundled with a free BD disc Talladega Nights, undoubtedly showing up in GfK and Nielsen VideoScan figures, though not purchased. Also a number of retailers offers two-for-one specials on BD discs. Furthermore, Amazon offers 50% off selected Blu-ray discs. Hardly normal market conditions.

http://www.dvd-intelligence.com/main_sections/news_archive/2003_free/3_mediatech_report.htm

So According to this the BDA is counting their Freebies in Nielsen and Toshiba not

For its part, promotion of HD DVD hardware revolved around redeemable vouchers for free HD discs which by nature cannot be accounted for by retailed disc output figures

"When all those factors are taken into consideration, it could well be that respective sales volumes of BD and HD DVD discs may not be far apart," a market observer told us.

Very Interesting!

So According to this the BDA is counting their Freebies in Nielsen and Toshiba not





Very Interesting!


Something to think about. Why does it seem like Europeans dont like being pushed around. They seem very openminded, not so in the US. Plus always tries to dis them? SAD

And everyone actually believed those numbers in the first place?

Is there any proof that those discs were counted toward retail numbers? Was there a UPC on the box for the disc that was scanned at the time of purchase? I seriously doubt 500k TN discs were counted on a total of 700k discs sold. Do you really believe that with 1.5 million players that BD only sold 200k discs (half of which were free)? That would be a complete disaster.

I think Sony says shiped, the actual number of players sold is less than that.

I think Sony says shiped, the actual number of players sold is less than that.
M$ does the same thing with the 360. The are sold, just not in homes.

Was there a UPC on the box for the disc that was scanned at the time of purchase?

The TN freebie w/ the PS3 did not have a UPC.

What was not made clear in the presentation is that the PS3 – already 1 million units sold – was bundled with a free BD disc Talladega Nights, undoubtedly showing up in GfK and Nielsen VideoScan figures, though not purchased.

Wrong on many levels:

(a) Nielsen has made it clear that bundled movies do not count toward sales, as they do not represent conscious purchase decisions (source (http://www.indiefilmer.com/nuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=357))

(b) Only the first 500,000 consoles sold got a copy of Talladega Nights (source (http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/19/first-500k-ps3s-get-blu-ray-talladega-nights/))

(c) Total Blu-ray sales as of Feb 25 were under 700,000 (source (http://www.twice.com/article/CA6422671.html)) and Blu-ray sales during February were about 250,000 (source (http://www.videobusiness.com/article/CA6422898.html)). If the 500,000 TN bundled copies were counted, that alone would exceed 700,000, not even counting the June 06-January 07 sales

To sum up: BS

To sum up: BS
After reviewing the facts Yes.

According to Erin Crawford, the general manager of Nielsen VideoScan, the bundling of "Talledega Nights" — and, by inference, "King Kong" — was not included in the Nielsen numbers, as it does not represent a conscious buying choice on the part of the consumer.

The TN inclusion in the numbers does seem to be an inaccurate statement.

What however is accurate is the fact that Sony has chosen more expensive promotional avenues for consumer rebates that go through retail channels or possible retailer subsidies (like Amazon discounts) and thus get counted for retail sales figures and that Toshiba and Universal have chosen direct fulfillment rebates that accomplish much the same consumer effect and cost less to implement, but take longer and don't affect retail sales figures.

Sony, Fox and the BDA obviously care about what the sales numbers are at this point while Universal and Toshiba seem to not really care where they fall at this point.

Sony is spending cash to increase retail sales numbers, which would make sense if it is a key part of a Blu-ray wins, PR strategy. Its a sprint strategy.

Universal and Toshiba are taking a less expensive longer term strategy to gain the same consumer effect while spending much less cash, which would make sense if they are immune to the BDA hype or any short term sales advantage if there strategy is to accumulate more standalone owners through lower player pricing. Its more a marathon strategy.

Universal and Toshiba are taking a less expensive longer term strategy to gain the same consumer effect while spending much less cash, which would make sense if they are immune to the BDA hype or any short term sales advantage if there strategy is to accumulate more standalone owners through lower player pricing. Its more a marathon strategy.I think somebody needs to tell Universal that just because it is a marathon, that doesn't mean that walking or sitting down is okay. It almost seems like they took the strategy that they didn't care if many of their supporters went neutral.

--Darin

I had read that the freebies are NOT included in the sales stats.

Eric

I think somebody needs to tell Universal that just because it is a marathon, that doesn't mean that walking or sitting down is okay. It almost seems like they took the strategy that they didn't care if many of their supporters went neutral.

--Darin

Universal just announced many titles for the year.