HMV boss says more people are buying DVDs and Blu-rays – BBC News

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Author, Michael Race

Role, Business Journalist, BBC News

July 21, 2024

More consumers are buying Blu-rays and DVDs of films and TV shows despite the rise of streaming platforms, the boss of HMV has said.

HMV chief executive Phil Halliday said the retailer was in “good health” and all its major product areas were growing again.

Mr Halliday said “physical visual” sales had increased, adding that “4K and Blu-Ray are doing particularly well”, but the figures suggest sales across the sector are still falling.

“When streaming came out, I think a lot of people saw it as cheap and choice-driven, but I’m not sure people see it that way now,” he said.

“People are willing to pay for a physical copy of shows or movies that they know they will watch again.”

HMV’s boss compared the rise in DVD sales to the buying and collecting of CDs and vinyl records. A spokesperson told the BBC that its “visual category” grew by 5% in the first half of 2024, “with growth driven in particular by high-definition formats”.

The figures suggest that DVD and Blu-Ray sales are still in general decline.

The industry body added that ‘physical’ retail sales of videos were £169.7m last year, down around 18.8% on 2022.

The rise of streaming platforms, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, has allowed households to access movies and TV shows without the need for physical discs.

This has led to a steady decline in DVD and Blu-Ray sales over the last decade and some retailers, such as supermarket Sainsbury’s, are no longer selling CDs and DVDs due to declining returns.

DVD sales peaked in the early 2000s, with Finding Nemo becoming the best-selling DVD of all time, Finding Nemo, when it was released in 2003, selling 38.8 million copies.

But some people continue to buy physical movies and TV shows so they can own a copy and access them when streaming services change content libraries or remove titles.

“There’s a risk today that movies that are streaming-only will be taken down. They come and go, just like TV versions of movies… But the home video version is the one that can still be there, so people can still access it,” Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan told The Washington Post last year.

Alice Enders, head of research at Enders Analysis, told the BBC that while streaming has become popular, “the physical format has never gone away, as vinyl really shows.”

“In Japan, CD+DVD is still far ahead of digital because merchandising is a key part of the J-pop live experience and establishing a story at home is the ultimate tribute,” she said.

“HMV is not the only supplier to benefit from this resurgence of paper, also seen in books.”

HMV was bought in a rescue plan by Canadian music retail executive Doug Putman, owner of Sunrise Records, in 2019 after being placed in administration for the second time in less than a decade.

Last year, the retailer reopened its flagship store on Oxford Street, London, after a four-year hiatus. The brand, called His Master’s Voice, was launched by English composer Edward Elgar in 1921, selling gramophones, radios and popular music hall recordings.

Mr Halliday said the Oxford Street store had been doing well since it reopened.

“It’s been a step forward for the business,” he said. “The store is a big site and it’s been really fun to work on it and bring it back to life the way it should be.”

“But it’s important to say that we’re not just stores like Oxford Street. To be honest, our livelihood is that we have lots of brilliant stores in communities all over the UK.

“At the moment I think we have very good coverage in terms of locations in the UK, and we are happy with how they are performing at the moment.”