Blu-ray Market Share Drops, Sony Pushes End-of-Year Sales

The Blu-ray U.S. market share dropped to 8 percent at the end of last week -- more than 13 percent from the previous week -- with traditional DVDs commanding the other 92 percent, according to Nielsen VideoScan. This is far from Sony president Ryoji Chubachi's ridiculously lofty goal of 50 percent market share by year's end.

Concurrent with this decline, Sony and Blu-ray boosters are using aggressive marketing campaigns to raise consumer awareness of their high-definition format in hopes of bolstering Blu-ray out of its slump. This month's issue of Wired Magazine will bundled in with the publication a Blu-ray disc of Sony-produced online web series Coma, starring Michael Madsen Sony will also ship with its players free discs like Men In Black and episodes of the Discovery Channel series "Fearless Planet" and "Sunrise Earth," illustrating its drive to differentiate between regular DVDs and their high-definition brethren while inundating the playing field with free incentives to hop on board.

Blu-ray disc players have also seen price cuts -- despite grim predictions -- with one recently sneaking in at just under $200. The Industry Standard believes Blu-ray player prices will drop below $250 by the day after Thanksgiving; a likely estimate given that this year's Black Friday predictions have Blu-ray players at $149, or $199 with bundled movies. This $250 figure does not include players built into home computers or "door buster" deals, suggesting permanence in the cut.

As for a miraculous 42 percent increase in market share by year's end? That probably won't happen, but Sony and the Blu-ray advocates hope their advertising and supposed price cuts will capture an audience looking to jump to the next level of high-def viewing.

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