Is Blu-ray making a comeback? Manufacturers report a 10,000% increase in sales over the last decade
This increase has occurred despite the widespread decline of physical video formats.
It seems like a distant memory, but there was a time when movies weren’t watched on streaming platforms. Legend has it that video rental stores were places where you could find that long-lost tape—the one nobody had seen, but that was surely sitting on a shelf somewhere. Now it all seems like a thing of the past, like talking about the now-extinct pay phones, because everything is at our fingertips with just a couple of minutes of searching. All you have to do is log into any streaming platform and check if the movie you’ve been wanting to see for so long has been released. However, this new way of interacting with the world and with technology is giving rise to new trends. Burnout, for example, is leading to a return to the classics.
TechRadar has published a report featuring an interview with Kath Summersgill, who is the director of an agency specializing in the manufacture of vinyl records, cassettes, and CDs. She noted that “We’ve seen an increase in Blu-ray sales of over 10,000%, particularly in Blu-ray Audio. That’s over the span of the past eight to 10 years.” Thus, despite the gradual decline of physical video formats, she has highlighted this positive trend for Blu-ray. This is even more notable given that sales of 4K Blu-ray have also risen recently. It is estimated that sales in the United Kingdom will increase by 20% by 2025.
Disillusionment with Streaming Platforms
This return to physical formats can be explained by several factors. Setting aside the enthusiasm of die-hard fans for collecting their favorite products, it all boils down to a sense of disillusionment with streaming platforms. The constant rise in subscription prices, the introduction of ads, and the ever-changing availability of content are believed to have led many to feel a certain weariness. On the other hand, from a more technical standpoint, the capabilities offered by formats like 4K Blu-ray far surpass those of streaming platforms, given the latter’s limitations in terms of compression.
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