The Journal of Marketing will publish a study that shows films would get a 16% lift in overall revenue if they were released on DVD, in theaters, and on VOD at the same time. The work looked at the US, Germany, and Japan which produce about half of the industry’s revenue.
One of the conclusions of the study was that earlier release on DVD might help that drop-off in sales from the format. Movie theaters would get pounded, and cable channels like HBO would almost certainly benefit.
Hollywood is at a point where it may not care about what their theater partners think. Several years ago, before DVDs and VOD, theaters were the critical outlet and revenue driver. But, those days are gone.
The survey do not look at which companies might benefit from the move to simultaneous release. But Blockbuster (BBI), Netflix (NFLX), and Wal-Mart (WMT) would seem to be big winners if the studios follow the survey’s recommendations. And so would Time Warner’s (TWX) HBO and cable operators like Comcast (CMCSA) and Cablevision (CVC)
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
Top Gaining Stocks
Top Losing Stocks