Always provocative Pali Research analyst Rich Greenfield predicts in a research note out this week that consumer spending on DVDs will fall by another 4-5% in 2008 to $22.2 billion, after a 2% decline in 2007. (According to Video Business estimates, DVD spending was off 3% in ’07.)
Greenfield says “The key driver of the decline is accelerating catalog DVD declines and a first-time decline in TV DVD spending.” He bases his forecast of declining catalog sales on a decision by Wal-Mart’s senior management to clean-up store aisles and eliminate the type of dump bins through which so many cheap discs move. –M.M.