DVD Producers A Quick Question...

[Lee]

How often do you get rid of your older movies because they no longer sell?

I was just wondering what the shelf-life of a DVD/VHS movie was in terms of customers actually buying them, or do they keep getting bought forever?

Id imagine, based on what others are saying about surfers looking for new content on websites, that once you sell a certain amount of copies of your movie titles you just throw them away because they are 'old' and customers no longer want to buy them.

So how often do you discard your older movie titles once they stop selling or do they continue sell for many years after their initial date of production?

Regards,

Lee

[CamCruise]

All of our stuff keeps selling and selling.

[Lee]

All of our stuff keeps selling and selling.

Even your old titles?

That doesnt make any sense because surfers want new exclusive content.

Im guessing they dont sell well on VOD sites though.

Regards,

Lee

[LavenderLounge]

That subject is not a "quick question". Inventory control and whether a movie "has legs" is the essence of your business plan from moment you plan a production.

It's the equivalent to asking a Broadway producer upfront for a definitive answer as to how long a show will run. There are no rules.

Consider how Disney purposely puts titles into the vault until a new generation comes up that hasn't seen it. They re-release it in limited edition, then put it back in the vault.

On the other hand, there is a lot of porn (and mainstream movies) that are cranked out just to exploit the first run followed by being lost in obscurity.

Both options are valid ways to make money, it just depends on your plan.

[Lee]

Consider how Disney purposely puts titles into the vault until a new generation comes up that hasn't seen it. They re-release it in limited edition, then put it back in the vault.

Disney are wrong, consumers only want to purchase new exclusive movies and content there is no market for older stuff.

Regards,

Lee

[mgillis]

Left to its own devices, older content doesn't sell well on VOD - surfers tend to go to the new lists, Top Rental lists and whatever is merchandised on the home page.

To keep traffic going to our older library of content, we regularly promote studio libraries, Theme lists, cycle "Our Picks" back into the top spots and much more.

In my own experience, I don't like to dig and I find that most consumers behave like me - but if we lead them to the content, they will rent it.

Older doesn't mean crap - just means that you need to help people find it.

[mgillis]

Now that I'm on the topic...

There are new gay consumers everyday - guys who've just come of age, guys who've just got high enough bandwidth to do this, guys who've just found your site.

The content is new to them!

[Lee]

But surfers only want new exclusive content, not older content.

http://forums.gaywidewebmasters.com/...ad.php?t=24549

Regards,

Lee

[Lee]

The content is new to them!

Shhhh.... Dont go telling everyone that you'll put me out of business

Regards,

Lee

[IdolKnights]

guys who've just come of age

But they have NO money! Everyone knows, you are poor until you are 35 and older. Only then, can you PAY for porn and be worth marketing to.

[gaybucks_chip]

One of our oldest titles (we have about 24 DVDs now) is currently a top 20 seller for our distributor. Like Tony, nearly all of our back catalog titles continue to sell well, so we really don't have reason to discontinue a title. The only titles we've dropped are ones where the license to the content expired (part of a deal we made when Ryan sold his interest in the company to AJ 3 years ago)

But... there are a lot of studios that shovel out crap, are happy to sell 300 copies of it, and then move on to the next title. I don't think that's necessarily the best way of doing business, but hey, if it works, who am I to argue with it.

[A_DeAngelo]

How often do you get rid of your older movies because they no longer sell?...

...So how often do you discard your older movie titles once they stop selling or do they continue sell for many years after their initial date of production?

Regards,

Lee

We DON'T "get rid" of anything and our stuff is rarely if ever discounted - to mark down or "dump" your products lessens the value of the entire line....

the studio can quickly become labeled as a "junk" studio that "dumps" old product....

not a good idea for a small, start up dvd producer in my opinion...

and most of our products do "have legs".... "let the fingers do the walking..."

[Jasun]

it's never happened, to be honest.

If you can't move 1000 copies of each movie... um... find a new line of work.

[Xstr8guy]

Even your old titles?

That doesnt make any sense because surfers want new exclusive content.

Im guessing they dont sell well on VOD sites though.

Regards,

Lee

Oh shut up akready! Lol.

Just keep buying old Ounique content and making your sites. They have the $990 sale again this month. That should be enough content for another 12 sites.

[markwolff]

Mary has a good point, there are new customers discovering your videos all the time, it's new to them. We will often have a new customer start by buying a DVD that is 2 or 3 years old for his first purchase, if he sees a certain model he likes, and then move up to newer releases from there. My biggest selling video is Lords of the Lockeroom with Billy Harrington, the video is 6 years old now and Billy has long retired, but it still sells well even today. Our new releases will sell well for the first 3 months, then you will see a slow drop, and then another 20% drop when another release is made, and it slowly goes down from there. I still sell all the videos i have ever produced except 4 of my very early titles that we decided not to convert to DVD. I will tell you that physical DVD sales at Mark Wolff Productions are about half of what they were just 3 years ago. Video streaming and download has taken a huge bite out of DVD sales, and it continues to go down. As of Jan 1 07 we now release our new videos on DVD and to our markwolffvideo.com site at the same time. I think the days of DVD's are numbered and i can see a time when we will only release our videos to our web sites for viewing in the not too distant future.. The advantages to doing this are numerous, and could fill another thread.