As the prices of Netflix and other platforms have increased steadily in recent years, users could turn to physical. A good idea to save money? Not really.
For years now, household spending on streaming platforms has continued to increase. It must be said that Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and others have revised their respective prices upwards on several occasions.
For example, Netflix’s Premium subscription was priced at €11.99 per month in 2014, the year the platform was launched in France. At the time of writing, you now have to pay €19.99 per month to benefit from the best Netflix offer.
Ever more expensive streaming offers
For its part, Apple TV+ offered for years a single price of €6.99. A rather fair price, especially given the quality of the catalog, all with 4K image definition (editor’s note: 4K is often only accessible in the most expensive streaming offers). But ultimately, the Cupertino company decided to in turn increase the prices of its platform in October 2023, to go from 6.99 to €9.99 per month.
As you will have understood, subscribing to several streaming platforms today represents a considerable cost. If we remove from the equation the recent formulas with advertising launched by Netflix, Disney or the newcomer Max, the bill can quickly reach €40 to €50 per month depending on the platforms chosen and your needs (if you want to see EVERYTHING, it can easily approach €80).
In fact, some users are tempted to return to physical media. At least, we ensure that we own a work for good (platform catalogs are constantly evolving according to licensing rights) in exchange for a single investment (i.e. the price of the DVD/Blu-Ray).
Going back to the physical, a good idea for the wallet?
However, if we are to believe the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (American establishment focused on labor economics and statistics), the prices of DVDs and Blu-Rays have continued to rise in recent years as well. . In June 2024, the average price of DVD/Blu-Ray increased by 29% compared to the same period in 2023!
How to explain such a price increase? It’s quite simple, if more and more of us want to return to the physical, there are fewer and fewer resellers. For good reason, several specialist brands have chosen to reduce the sail, if not to tear it off completely, on the marketing of DVD/Blu-Ray. This is for example the case of one of the largest American resellers, namely Best Buy, which decided in 2024 to completely stop the sale of films, series and video games in physical media.
Also read: Xbox – the end of physical games? This news revives the debate
In France, you just need to go to any Fnac store to see that the DVD/Blu-Ray section has melted, in favor of other products that are more profitable and more fashionable than vinyls for example. This phenomenon is amplified by the choice of certain major studios to no longer offer physical releases for their films. In Australia, for example, Disney no longer sells any of its films in physical format, preferring instead a digital version in the best case scenario, or a direct release on Disney+.
Still according to the Bureau of Labor, this trend is expected to continue in the years to come. You should also expect an increase in the prices of DVD and Blu-Ray players. Enough to wonder about the interest, at least financial, of returning to the physical.
Source: TechRadar