The death of physical media has been discussed ever since digital downloads and online streaming began making their way into the mainstream, when Apple started selling music via iTunes, digital copies began arriving inside our Blu-ray/DVD combo packs, and streaming a TV series on Netflix became a replacement for making a trip to the video store. Now it may really be time to start thinking about funeral plans, as Fox Home Entertainment will no longer release seasons of its long-running animated hit “The Simpsons” on DVD or Blu-ray, according to The Hollywood Reporter and Polygon.
The series’ showrunner, Al Jean, announced on Twitter earlier this week, “I personally am [very] sorry to see DVDs discontinued. We did them purely for the love of hearing ourselves talk.” He later replied to a fan, adding “‘Simpsons’ fans are great (which is why we will do commentaries [and] anything else we can). [The] DVD market is dying. [We] did [the] best we could.” A source from Fox confirmed the move, stating, “There’s so much happening in the digital space, it made more sense to focus on that.”
The news hardly comes as a surprise, in the sense that revenue from physical media has slumped dramatically in recent years, a trend almost certain to continue. A study performed by PwC (via Variety) in 2014 estimated physical home entertainment revenue — from sales and rentals of both DVD and Blu-ray discs — would fall nearly 30% in five years, from $12.2 billion in 2013 to $8.7 billion in 2018. On the flip side, the study projects digital home entertainment revenue, which includes online purchases and rentals as well as subscription and cable VOD offerings, would more than double over the same period, from less than $8 billion in 2013 to some $17 billion by 2018.
Still, “The Simpsons” is one of the longest-running and most successful shows in the history of television, and over its 26 seasons it has maintained a fervent and diverse fan base, one that loves to re-watch old episodes, quote the show ad nauseam, and tell their friends how funny it still is to this day. Seriously, they do all those things. I know because some of these people are my friends.
Now that the company is no longer distributing “The Simpsons”, one of its most recognizable brands, on physical media, I’m curious what this means not just for Fox moving forward but also for the home entertainment divisions of studios as a whole. Is this just part of the transition projected in PwC’s study, the first of many dominoes to fall, or might it accelerate the process, with other studios following suit faster than planned, cutting back on DVD and Blu-ray releases for some of their best-known and most successful properties?
Another question I have is, will studios halt the distribution of television series on physical media before they do the same for movies? I don’t know what everybody else’s home video collection looks like, but mine is probably about 90% movies and 10% television, if I had to guess, and the shows I own are largely ones I purchased long ago. Now, Netflix and Amazon provide most every TV show I would ever want to watch, and for the ones I can’t find there, I can add a Hulu subscription if I don’t mind spending a few extra bucks each month. And of course, HBO‘s new streaming service is widely available to all as well.
As for movies, I have a floating shelf of Criterion Collection titles and a couple standing shelves with various other Blu-rays and a select few DVDs — the movies I love that have yet to make the high-definition jump. While I watch some of them on occasion, I find myself wondering if it isn’t time to downsize, to digitize my collection, keep the few discs I really do want, and let the rest go so I can use the space for something else. The fact more and more Blu-rays are being released barebones, with few or no interesting special features, makes me more inclined to make the switch to a primarily digital film library.
It is hard to tell exactly what will come next in the ongoing transition from physical discs to digital copies and streaming services, but one thing is for sure: physical media is indeed on its way out, and while it may not be on its deathbed, this announcement from Fox is yet another sign of its impending demise.
