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.

2012 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part III

December 15th, 2012

We are getting closer and closer to Christmas and we are getting to the crunch time for gift shopping. After checking out first run releases and franchise box sets in Part I and TV on DVD releases in Part II, this week we look at limited releases, classics, and foreign films. Some are pretty obvious choices, as we had a few limited releases that broke into the mainstream during their theatrical releases, but there are also a few more films that slipped beneath the radar the last time around. The biggest of these is... More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for November 6th, 2012

November 6th, 2012

It's a mixed week on the home market. Granted, there are about a dozen Amazing Spider-man releases coming out this week, but not till Friday. The second best selling new release is Arthur Christmas, which missed expectations last year. Another major release of the week is The Muppets Christmas Carol, which is making its Blu-ray debut, but it is a catalogue title and likely won't sell a huge number of units. On a side note, the screener is late, but I've seen the film so many times that seeing it one more time likely won't change my opinion of the film, but I'm not sure if it is Pick of the Week material. On the other hand, I'm very sure Sunset Boulevard's Blu-ray debut is worthy of that title. More...