# DVDs top VHS for first time



## John Corn (Mar 21, 2002)

Fueled by robust rentals for the suspense-thriller "The Ring," DVD rental revenues surpassed VHS rental revenues in a single week for the first time ever, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Video Dealers Software Association.

The gap between DVD and VHS rentals has been closing for several months, but it wasn't until the week ending March 16 that revenues for the newer format finally edged ahead by reaching $80 million in one week versus $78 million for VHS.

"We're real excited about this," said VSDA spokesman Sean Bersell. "This shows the tremendous impact of DVD on the home-video industry. It continues to exceed everyone's expectations and continues to drive the growth of the home-video industry."

While DVD rental revenue surpassed that of VHS, more tapes than discs were actually rented by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin. The reason for the discrepancy is that the average rental price for a DVD is $3.07 while VHS titles have an average rental price of $2.54.

DVD players are now in more than 40 million households nationwide, and shipments of DVD titles hit 685 million units last year, a leap from 5.5 million units just six years ago.

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## Nick (Apr 23, 2002)

...and who says that the average guy doesn't want better picture quality. Next thing you know, they'll be ordering HDTV sets.


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## Martyva (Apr 23, 2002)

The folks in the rental business may be a bit slow. Profitability to the studios--- DVDs passed VHS over a year ago. Sales of machines and Disks--- DVD passed VHS over 6 months ago.


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## AkShark (Jul 12, 2002)

Hey, I am new here. Whats VHS?


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## Martyva (Apr 23, 2002)

The ship ought to show up, from Seattle, any day now.


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