Box Office versus DVD Sales

I didn't have the data on DVD revenue Wednesday when I wrote about limited top-line growth despite recent box office numbers at the media conglomerates. I do now, and it isn't pretty.

Chart 1: DVD Sales vs. Domestic Box Office
Source for box office data: Variety
Source for dvd sales: The-Numbers.com

The DVD numbers are not perfect. The data include sales only and the top thirty titles each week only, but the trend is unmistakable. Despite a predictable growth in box office receipts during this recession, large media companies will continue to struggle due to downward pressure on ad revenues and dvd sales.

[Is it possible that this decline in DVD purchases will create pent up demand for Blu-ray sales as we exit the recession? I will have to search for a better data source that includes previous recessions. I suspect however that, regardless of past precedent, we will not return to the same exuberant pace of consumer spending seen in the last decade.]