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.

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for January 10th, 2012

January 9th, 2012

It's a pretty good week on the home market, for this time of year, with a number of releases that are worth checking out. This includes big budget releases, like Moneyball on Blu-ray Combo Pack, as well as TV on DVD releases like Doctor Who: Story 71: Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Story 83: The Android Invasion, as well as smaller releases like Higher Ground on Blu-ray Combo Pack. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly deep week for releases, and it isn't long before we start getting to DVDs and Blu-rays that would be ignored during a typically busy week. Not only that, but I'm still waiting for screeners for a number of bigger releases. One of these, Boardwalk Empire: Season One on Blu-ray, is the most likely candidate for Pick of the Week. More...