Our DVD and Blu-ray sales estimates are based on weekly retail surveys, which we use to build a weekly market share estimate for each title we are tracking. The market share is converted into a weekly sales estimate based on industry reports on the overall size of the market, including reports published in Media Play News.

For example, if our weekly retail survey estimates that a particular title sold 1% of all units that week, and the industry reports sales of 1,500,000 units in total, we will estimate 15,000 units were sold of that title. The consumer spending estimate is based on the average sales price for the title in the retailers we survey.

We refine our estimates from week to week as more data becomes available. In particular, we adjust weekly sales figures for the quarter once the total market estimates are published by the Digital Entertainment Group. Figures will therefore fluctuate each week, and totals for individual titles can go up or down as we update our estimates.

Because sales figures are estimated based on sampling, they will be more accurate for higher-selling titles.

Blu-ray Sales: A Whole Host of New Releases

September 23rd, 2013

The week of July 14th, 2013 was a bit strange on the home market, as the Blu-ray sales chart and the DVD sales chart didn't line up very well. Granted, in both cases, new releases dominated, but unlike on DVD, The Host led the way on Blu-ray. It sold 103,000 units and generated $2.38 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 42%, which isn't bad for a film with a decidedly weak box run. More...

2010 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part II

December 2nd, 2010

Christmas shopping season is in full swing and this week we have the second part of our Holiday Gift Guide. Last week, Part I talked about big first run releases, while this week we look at box sets and TV on DVD releases. When it comes to the latter, this list is limited to Full Series Megasets and the first season of shows that made their home market debut this year, mostly. This is because when it comes to full season sets from the middle of a show's run, they don't really make good gifts, unless the person is already collecting the series. "Here's season three of a great show. You'll have to buy the first two yourself and get caught up before watching this one." Anyhoo, there are still plenty of releases worth giving as gifts this season, starting with... More...

Featured Blu-ray Review: Alien Anthology

November 4th, 2010

It has been just over 30 years since the first Alien hit theaters and around seven years since the franchise Box Set came out on DVD. Because these films have been released, and re-released, and then released again, this review will be less about the movies, and more about the Blu-ray and whether or not it is worth the upgrade. More...