Maynard Consulting

…and dismiss the following as too over-the-top, but it’s worth reading.  Marcy Magiera wrote a small piece on the far-reaching and sometimes unexpected consequences of piracy:

“A new report from global think tank RAND Corp. for the Motion Picture Assn. ties DVD piracy to organized crime and terrorism in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.”

You can read her full article from Video Business magazine here.

From Video Business magazine, 4/30/2009:

“With the number of online video users expected to grow by about a third to about 160 million between 2008 and 2012, use of HD video will grow exponentially, from 1.5% of the total in 2008, to 17% by 2012.”

and

“Almost half of online video users watch television shows over the Web, while less than one in five watch movies, compared to about two-thirds who watch user-generated content, according to IDC.”

read the full article by Danny King here.

The rumors continue to fly.  VOD and downloading are supposed to be the harbingers of doom for DVD.  But there certainly aren’t any corpses for the vultures yet.  Why?  Because there may not be any truth to it.

DVD on its own may be slowing down naturally; after all, DVD has been in commercial release for 12 years now.  While DVD sales are definitely down, there isn’t any evidence to suggest that a preference for VOD or downloading is the cause of it.

“…more people are still buying DVDs than streaming or downloading content, according to NPD Group research.

When NPD asked people about their home entertainment purchases over the past three months, 48% of respondents said they bought a DVD or Blu-ray Disc. That compares to 2% who downloaded a movie or TV episode, and 2% who digitally rented a movie or TV show. In videogames, about one-third of respondents said they bought packaged software for a console, and fewer than 5% said they had digitally downloaded a game.”

http://www.videobusiness.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6634522

Customers love it, but it’s a poison pill for small businesses.  We don’t offer it.  Never have, never will.

Curt Barry, a writer for Multichannel Merchant magazine, published an article titled Paying for free shipping and handling.  Here is an excerpt:

When you look at what mailers are charging and giving to the customer for a higher than average order, it looks like a significant inducement on the surface.

But the success rate among our clients in the use of free shipping varies widely, and the shipping and processing offset that you have to give up is very expensive in a time when sales are soft anyway. Most of the merchants we talked to aren’t convinced free S&H is working.

Here is a link to the full article.

Here is a PDF of the sample data.

Random voices have been remarking that DVD is knocking at death’s door, suggesting that DVD is as obsolete as VHS.

That’s pure garbage and uninformed babbling.

“We know that Blu-ray customers are still overwhelmingly selecting DVD when given the choice,” said Crupnick. “People will go and buy The Dark Knight on Blu-ray,” he added. “But for whatever other movie, they think they can just get it on DVD for less. I don’t think people are saying that they necessarily have to have a Blu-ray price that is the same as DVD. But the premium is a bit too steep right now for them.”

Besides pricing, mainstream Blu-ray appeal is also being impacted by gender. The software continues to attract mostly an early adopter consumer profile, according to NPD. Currently, 72% of Blu-ray software buyers are male. That compares with standard DVD’s even 50/50 split between male and female buyers. Additionally, buyers are generally young, ages 25-34, matching the demographics for the most popular Blu-ray player, the PlayStation 3.”

http://www.videobusiness.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6625819

There’s nothing wrong with forward-thinking and planning ahead, but there is also room for caution, especially with those who like to leap before they look.

HDTV owners familiar with Blu-ray favor the format over downloading and streaming by a margin of nearly 10-to-1, with about 70% of respondents citing the fact that there’s a physical disc to keep as a key factor in their decision to buy Blu-ray.

The study found 96% of Blu-ray Disc users are familiar with downloading and streaming services, but that two-thirds believe watching a movie on Blu-ray is a better overall entertainment experience.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/high-def/deg-study-blu-ray-favored-over-downloading-13900?print=1

Click this link to a study of Illinois State University students:

 www.ece.cmu.edu/~peha/dimensions_of_piracy.pdf

President Bush signed s.  3325 into law on October 14th, 2008.  Although the bill had some poorly conceived parts removed, the fundamental and significant parts remained intact.

A White House press release provides a glimpse at what the bill is meant to accomplish:

This legislation helps protect the rights of America’s consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs by strengthening both our civil and criminal laws against counterfeiting and piracy. Specifically, the Act increases statutory damage awards in civil counterfeiting cases, it strengthens remedies available in the prosecution of criminal cases involving counterfeiting and piracy, it enhances resources (personnel, training, and equipment) for Department of Justice programs that combat IP theft, and makes permanent the Administration’s Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) Initiative and its inter-agency IP coordination efforts.

Here is the White House press release that announced President Bush signing s. 3325 into law.

Here is the full text of the actual bill (not just a summary).