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.

Home Market Numbers: Hot Pursuit Can't Catch Holdovers

September 10th, 2015

There were more new releases to chart this week than there were last week. However, none of the new releases from August 11th were unable to unseat the holdovers on the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for August 16th chart. This left Insurgent in first place with 303,000 units / $4.85 million for the week, giving it totals of 1.17 million units / $18.95 million after two weeks of release. More...

Home Market Releases for August 11th, 2015

August 11th, 2015

Fortunately, summer is coming to an end, so the quality of the home market releases will start to climb very soon. Unfortunately, this week the biggest first-run release is Unfriended. It is worth picking up, if you are a fan of the genre, but it is not exactly a blockbuster title. As for the best releases of the week, I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story is close to the top of the list. However, in the end I went with Felicia Day: You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), which is a bit of an unorthodox choice, as it is not a DVD or Blu-ray. However, it is the best new release of the week. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Some Lovely Limited Releases

June 5th, 2015

In another improvement to our news this week, the Limited Releases column is expanding to cover both limited and VOD releases. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “aren't you already talking about VOD on the Home Market Releases column?” Yes. However, those are for VOD releases for films that already played in theaters some time ago. This column will include films that debut on VOD either before, or simultaneously with, their theatrical release. We think this it an important change, as too often the Limited Release column was “Limited Releases Playing in New York City and Possibly Los Angeles.” For people in most of the rest of the country, there were no films on the list playing anywhere near them. This week, there are at least a few films worth checking out, including We Are Still Here, which is playing on VOD and Love and Mercy and Testament of Youth, which are theatrical-only releases that both have a shot at mainstream success. More...