CHATSWORTH, CA — Saying that his company is “very interested” in both next generation DVD formats, Vivid co-founder Steven Hirsch indicated the adult video giant will release its first HD-DVD and Blu-ray titles early next year.Hirsch said that Vivid’s hesitance to author titles in the new formats hitherto has been due to cost concerns.
“While adult is always looked at as the new driver in technology, at some point it has to be affordable,” Hirsch said, according to Home Media Retailing magazine. “[The new formats are] not there yet, although we are willing to take a chance because we feel the market will be very soon.”
Hirsch puts the cost of authoring Blu-ray titles at approximately $50,000, compared to $10,000 for standard DVDs and noted that the replication costs of Blu-ray are around 10 times that of a standard platter.
Noting that the average adult DVD title sells only about 5,000 units per year, Hirsch observed “If you want to be in that business, you have to take chances.”
According to Home Media Retailing, Hirsch also said that Vivid’s sales in another next-gen market, download-to-own DVD sales have been brisk, but “weren’t off the charts.”
“I think it is two different markets,” Hirsch said. “People who traditionally go into DVD stores aren’t necessarily the people who feel comfortable downloading or burning content to a DVD.”
DVD continues to be Vivid’s primary source of revenue, according to Hirsch, comprising around 40-percent of the company’s annual sales, a revenue figure that is down from years past. Five years ago, DVD accounted for 80-percent of the company’s sales and last year the figure was 60-percent, according to Hirsch.
“The DVD business is a very mature business,” Hirsch told Home Media Retailing. “It is a new-release business. Everyone has their catalog titles. There is still some residual business, but nowhere near what it was.”
Hirsch did not specify which titles would be among Vivid’s initial next-gen releases.
