Comments on: Rent or Buy? http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/04/rent-or-buy/ Economics, Politics, Entertainment and Life in Academia Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:37:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: DVD Preferences: Buy or Rent? http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/04/rent-or-buy/comment-page-1/#comment-507 DVD Preferences: Buy or Rent? Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:09:06 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=548#comment-507 [...] Dave Switzer: Here’s what I see when I look at these two lists. I see that there are two kinds of movies that [...] [...] Dave Switzer: Here’s what I see when I look at these two lists. I see that there are two kinds of movies that [...]

]]> By: ProfSwitzer http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/04/rent-or-buy/comment-page-1/#comment-174 ProfSwitzer Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:01:35 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=548#comment-174 There are some slight variations depending on the source, possibly because DVD numbers continue to trickle in over time and perhaps different sources update their numbers with different frequency. The rankings of DVD sales and rentals shown in the post are from Variety, and they differ slightly from the numbers at the-numbers.com. I know that the-numbers breaks it up by sales year, so if The Dark Knight is released in 2008 and is still bought in 2009, it shows up in two different years; the 2008 numbers would be set in stone and the 2009 numbers would continually change as more and more people continue to buy the movie, even to this date. Part of the problem with using DVD sales or rental data is that they are always changing, so you either need to impose a time constraint (sales within the first 6 months) or just understand that there will always be some slight differences. The administrator for the-numbers says they're confident their numbers are +/- 5%, and they reconcile their results with numbers released by studios when they come out eventually. So for new movies, they are probably a little less reliable, but for movies released years ago, they're probably really close. Even when there is a difference between web sites, I find it's usually less than 1%. So in terms of modeling this and testing what determines sales, I think the results would be very much the same regardless of whose numbers you use. I haven't thought of contacting Redbox of Netflix. Usually with small companies they will help you with data if you give them results and help them answer questions. I guess I must just be assuming that those companies already have people working on those things, so why would they need me? But it's worth a shot...thanks for the suggestion. I have nothing to lose by asking. There are some slight variations depending on the source, possibly because DVD numbers continue to trickle in over time and perhaps different sources update their numbers with different frequency. The rankings of DVD sales and rentals shown in the post are from Variety, and they differ slightly from the numbers at the-numbers.com. I know that the-numbers breaks it up by sales year, so if The Dark Knight is released in 2008 and is still bought in 2009, it shows up in two different years; the 2008 numbers would be set in stone and the 2009 numbers would continually change as more and more people continue to buy the movie, even to this date. Part of the problem with using DVD sales or rental data is that they are always changing, so you either need to impose a time constraint (sales within the first 6 months) or just understand that there will always be some slight differences. The administrator for the-numbers says they’re confident their numbers are +/- 5%, and they reconcile their results with numbers released by studios when they come out eventually. So for new movies, they are probably a little less reliable, but for movies released years ago, they’re probably really close. Even when there is a difference between web sites, I find it’s usually less than 1%. So in terms of modeling this and testing what determines sales, I think the results would be very much the same regardless of whose numbers you use.

I haven’t thought of contacting Redbox of Netflix. Usually with small companies they will help you with data if you give them results and help them answer questions. I guess I must just be assuming that those companies already have people working on those things, so why would they need me? But it’s worth a shot…thanks for the suggestion. I have nothing to lose by asking.

]]> By: Zach http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/04/rent-or-buy/comment-page-1/#comment-163 Zach Sun, 05 Apr 2009 06:32:54 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=548#comment-163 Prof Switzer, Have you thought about talking with Netflix or possibly Redbox and seeing if you could get there numbers, in exchange for you doing work for them? I find these "new" DVD numbers quite interesting personally because that is what my Seminar Paper is on. I might have to incorporate that into my final model if it is easy to get into excel or e-views. Another question that I have for you on this, is how reliable do you think these numbers are? I only ask because some of the other numbers on the website look a little off. -Zach Prof Switzer,
Have you thought about talking with Netflix or possibly Redbox and seeing if you could get there numbers, in exchange for you doing work for them? I find these “new” DVD numbers quite interesting personally because that is what my Seminar Paper is on. I might have to incorporate that into my final model if it is easy to get into excel or e-views.
Another question that I have for you on this, is how reliable do you think these numbers are? I only ask because some of the other numbers on the website look a little off.
-Zach

]]> By: ProfSwitzer http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/2009/04/rent-or-buy/comment-page-1/#comment-118 ProfSwitzer Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:04:57 +0000 http://www.profswitzer.com/blog/?p=548#comment-118 I received this from a friend on facebook and am reprinting here and answering. Her comment: I'm curious as to why you find it interesting that the Dark Knight is nowhere to be found on the rental list when it banked big time while in the theaters. I assume that everybody who was interested in seeing it saw it at the theater, therefore, completely bypassing the rental stage and going straight to buying the dvd. I guess where I'm interested is why it doesn't happen that way more often. But then you have to take a look at 1) how big of hype batman was, esp w/ Heath Ledger's death and 2) how entertaining of a movie it was compared to what else gets released. I dunno...love to hear your thoughts. My response: I did originally write that I found it interesting, but after that comment, I updated the post and changed it to "noteworthy." But it got me thinking, and I'm not sure why it doesn't happen more often, or even if it does. So I looked at the top box office numbers of 2008 for comparison. Here they are: 1. The Dark Knight 2. Iron Man 3. Indiana Jones 4. Hancock 5. WALL-E 6. Kung Fu Panda 7. Madagascar 2 8. Twilight 9. Quantum of Solace 10. Horton Hears a Who 11. Sex and the City 12. Mamma Mia! (I feel so lame typing the !) 13. Juno 14. Prince Caspian 15. Incredible Hulk Most of these movies are also on the sales list (some, like Twilight and Quantum of Solace, did not have the DVD released until 2009 so they aren't on the sales list). I guess the reason I wrote that it was interesting is because we're looking at box office sales determinants and DVD sales determinants, and they're not always the same, but there are some similarities. I just noticed such a stark difference between what people rent and what people buy, and the fact that The Dark Knight didn't show up anywhere on the rental list caught my eye. Iron Man is second in box office and second in DVD sales, but it's also on the rental list. But the main point presented in the comment above, I think, is a two-part question I would love to answer: how well does a movie have to do in theaters for people to want to rent it, and at what point does it become a movie that is so good people have to buy it to keep in their collection? If only they provided actual rental numbers, we could write that paper too... I received this from a friend on facebook and am reprinting here and answering. Her comment:

I’m curious as to why you find it interesting that the Dark Knight is nowhere to be found on the rental list when it banked big time while in the theaters. I assume that everybody who was interested in seeing it saw it at the theater, therefore, completely bypassing the rental stage and going straight to buying the dvd. I guess where I’m interested is why it doesn’t happen that way more often. But then you have to take a look at 1) how big of hype batman was, esp w/ Heath Ledger’s death and 2) how entertaining of a movie it was compared to what else gets released. I dunno…love to hear your thoughts.

My response:

I did originally write that I found it interesting, but after that comment, I updated the post and changed it to “noteworthy.” But it got me thinking, and I’m not sure why it doesn’t happen more often, or even if it does. So I looked at the top box office numbers of 2008 for comparison. Here they are:

1. The Dark Knight
2. Iron Man
3. Indiana Jones
4. Hancock
5. WALL-E
6. Kung Fu Panda
7. Madagascar 2
8. Twilight
9. Quantum of Solace
10. Horton Hears a Who
11. Sex and the City
12. Mamma Mia! (I feel so lame typing the !)
13. Juno
14. Prince Caspian
15. Incredible Hulk

Most of these movies are also on the sales list (some, like Twilight and Quantum of Solace, did not have the DVD released until 2009 so they aren’t on the sales list). I guess the reason I wrote that it was interesting is because we’re looking at box office sales determinants and DVD sales determinants, and they’re not always the same, but there are some similarities. I just noticed such a stark difference between what people rent and what people buy, and the fact that The Dark Knight didn’t show up anywhere on the rental list caught my eye. Iron Man is second in box office and second in DVD sales, but it’s also on the rental list.

But the main point presented in the comment above, I think, is a two-part question I would love to answer: how well does a movie have to do in theaters for people to want to rent it, and at what point does it become a movie that is so good people have to buy it to keep in their collection? If only they provided actual rental numbers, we could write that paper too…

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