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.

DVD Sales - Rise of G.I.Joe

November 18th, 2009

There were five new releases sprinkled throughout the top 30 on this week's sales chart, mostly in the top ten. This includes a new number one best selling DVD, G.I.Joe - The Rise of Cobra, which sold 2.54 million units and accounted for $41.00 million in consumer spending at retail. This is on par with Wolverine sales late in September. More...

DVD Sales - Ice Age a Little Chilly in Stores?

November 11th, 2009

Five new releases reached the top 30 on the sales chart this week, including Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which took top spot with 2.46 million units sold and $43.62 million in opening week consumer spending at retail. This was enough for first place by a margin of nearly 1 million units; however, that was 44% lower unit sales that The Meltdown sold during its first week of release. Granted, there are some mitigating circumstance here, including the overall decline in DVD sales, as well as the rise in Blu-ray, but it is still troubling. More...

DVD Releases for October 27th, 2009

October 27th, 2009

It's coming very close to Halloween, which means there are a lot of horror films on this week's list. However, much of these films are of the smaller variety, like Night of the Creeps. Looking at the best of the releases, there are two that jump out at me, both Blu-ray releases. Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure on Blu-ray and The Prisoner - The Complete Series on Blu-ray are both DVD Pick of the Week. More...