4K Ultra HD And Blu-Ray Release Report

March 20, 2025

From DVD And Blu-ray Release Report:

2024 Was A Recording-Breaking Year For Both The Blu-ray And 4K Ultra HD Formats • Ninth Consecutive Year For Blu-ray Of New Record Release Totals!

2024 was a record-breaking year for both the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD formats.   That is a simple statement that seems to belie the Studio-centric view of the physical media world as it played out in 2024.   The question is why?

Let’s start with Blu-ray.   There were 9,392 new Blu-ray releases in 2024 — a preliminary total subject to revision as below the radar sources are found and added to the various databases over the days and weeks ahead.   This count was up from the previous record of 8,316 new titles posted in 2023.

In fact, since the launch year of the 4K Ultra HD in 2016, the Blu-ray format has set a new record for titles released every single year.   

Let that sink in!  If you are under the impression that physical media is in decline … every single year since 2016 the Blu-ray format has set a new all-time release record!!

For example, in 2016 the total number of Blu-ray titles released was 2,116 … by 2021 the count had more than doubled to 4,857.   And the 2021 count was almost doubled again this past year (9,392) … and that doubling may still come to pass as late arrivals are posted.

So what is driving this dramatic increase in the number of new Blu-ray titles each year?   
There are three factors that are spurring growth — one is of a technical nature, which in turn has “juiced” the other two title growth sources.   The knee-jerk is that this sounds like gibberish, but it actually makes sense when you understand the “technical” factor that is driving Blu-ray to higher and higher release counts.

Go back ten years to 2015 and you will find that there were 2,163 traditionally replicated Blu-ray titles and 278 manufactured on demand (MOD) releases.   Since then, the number of replicated Blu-rays has “crabbed” sideways (with a slight downward trend) to 1,797 in 2024.    

However, the MOD count has exploded to 7,595 in the latest reporting period.   That’s up over 1,000 from 2023!

When Blu-ray was launched in 2006 it was for the hi-def elements (over DVD), but that all-important factor has (in recent years) been sacrificed for the bandwidth (capacity) of Blu-ray over DVD.   Blu-ray, in other words, has become a workhorse for the delivery of programming — especially episodic series — that favors running time over all other factors.   
This rapid switch to MOD for Blu-ray distribution mirrors that of DVD.   Once you average consumer accepted DVD as MOD, it was only a matter of time before Blu-ray followed.    
And, in the wake of this shift from replicated to MOD traditional “big box” retailers could not make the adjustment — there’s no technical means to do MOD at retail, no kiosk system, no on-site manufacturing.   The same held true for traditional distribution … gone are the warehouses, replaced by rows and rows of MOD equipment.  Get an order, stamp it out, ship it.

Yes, this one shift in how discs were being manufactured has changed everything.

This brings us to the other big growth factors in the number of new Blu-ray titles arriving in the domestic marketplace at an ever-quickening pace.   41.70 percent of all new releases last year were pirated, and this excludes — repeat EXCLUDES — the seemingly countless number of Blu-rays being sourced from China (and other “exotic” locations).   These are all manufactured on demand.

When we did the 2024 recap for DVD we questioned the relationship between eBay and China … it is a simple question, are they in business together?   

Movie after movie, series after series are being offered on eBay (and other similar platforms) that are clearly stolen intellectual properties.   

The moment a new movie streams on one of the major services, or it is offered-up as a premium VOD, a pristine master is delivered to the “Helper” (our term for bootleggers, pirates, thieves, etc.) community for MOD distribution on DVD and, more importantly for bandwidth, Blu-ray.

The same holds true for complete episodic series programming.   The instant the entire season has completed its streaming cycle, it is ready for distribution on Blu-ray — for the format’s bandwidth, not its hi-def qualities. 

And to that point, why do Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, the legacy “Hollywood” studios and other rights’ owners tolerate eBay, Etsy and other similar consumer delivery systems that are selling their intellectual properties from “unlicensed” suppliers (“Helpers”)?

The legacy “Hollywood” studios and all of the boutique and independent labels combine for 31.1 percent (3.50 and 27.59 respectively) of the Blu-ray release pie in 2024.   This is the world of physical media that the various industry analysts and reporting services (trade, consumer, blogs and other platforms) talk about … 2,920 new titles.

If you do the math, that leaves a whopping 27.21 percent of all new Blu-ray releases in 2024 unaccounted for.   

There were 2,556 Blu-ray titles released by Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access organizations — we call them “Microbroadcasters.”

The Alliance for Community Media (allcommunitymedia.org) monitors 1,690 such PEGs, of those, 103 offer their programming — high school sports, local concerts, how to garden, graduations and public/local government meetings — for sale on DVD.    Of this group, 25 have discovered that Blu-ray gives them bandwidth options that are much easier to work with — that Friday night football game that might clock in at three hours can easily be presented on one Blu-ray disc.

 

On average, each of these PEGs/Microbroadcasters delivered 100 titles on Blu-ray in 2024.  In contrast, the legacy “Hollywood” studios churned out 47 new releases each … that’s less than one new Blu-ray per week from each of the legacy “Hollywood” studios.   How sad is that?

What is the dollar volume for these PEGs?   

No clue, but consider this … the programming costs are already sunk (the camera crew is at the game or recording the concert in the park, or recording the graduation ceremony at the local high school) in terms delivering content to the local access channel community.   So why not offer MOD copies on DVD and Blu-ray to anyone who wants that local hockey game or graduation ceremony?   Every nickel counts.  

And when you look at the numbers, the strategy appears to be working.
Breaking down what each of the four groups — studios, boutiques, PEGs and “Helpers” — we find the following.

The legacy “Hollywood” studios concentrate on New Theatrical, series programming and movies in general (theatrical catalog, foreign, MOWs and direct to video).   Children’s programming does not show up on the Blu-ray from this source, which is a surprise when you consider how much is in inventory.

The boutique and independent labels are far more diverse in their Blu-ray product offerings. 

Direct to video releases on Blu-ray is the largest single line item, followed by foreign language and theatrical catalog (often licensed from the legacy “Hollywood” studios).   They also out-gun the studios by a two-to-one margin when it comes to New Theatrical releases (although the box office numbers are very different).

The PEG/Microbroadcaster community dominates the special interest and sports categories and also delivers a surprising number of music on Blu-ray releases.

Lastly, the “Helper” sources tend to mirror the release patterns of the boutique and independent labels, however the huge focus for them is on series programming.   1,691 Blu-ray releases from this source alone … the studios and boutiques, in contrast, combined for just 114 series releases on Blu-ray in 2024.   If you have a favorite series, such as Bosch, Only Murders in the Building or Running Point, you won’t find it from a legitimate source. 

The great irony in all of this is that the programming is from the legacy “Hollywood” studies and the various streaming platforms (often overlapping) … “Helpers” don’t produce anything, they just “help” themselves to what is offered up and profit from it!

The “Helpers” also dominate in New Theatrical knock-offs (and this excludes China and the like) and they are the number one source for concerts on Blu-ray.

Shifting to the 4K Ultra HD format, 2024 was a record year with 583 new releases.   This is a much easier snapshot … there are three sources for 4K Ultra HD releases … and one of those is highly suspect.

The legacy “Hollywood” studios owned a 30 percent share of the 4K Ultra HD title pie with 175 titles in 2024.   The boutique and independent labels are carrying the load here with 52.5 percent of the title count … 306 new product offerings in 2024.

And sure enough, the “Helper” community is active here as well with 102 4K Ultra HD titles of their own in 2024.   However, we suspect that if a group will steal intellectual properties, why wouldn’t they also lie about the 4K standard they say they are delivering to the consumer?    

As to what the focus is for the format, it can be summed up in one word … MOVIES.   The legacy “Hollywood” studios and the boutique and independent labels combined for 372 theatrical catalog and new theatrical releases in 2024, or 77.5 percent of their entire output.   That pretty much says it all!

 

How will 2025 play out?    Good luck on figuring out that with the legacy “Hollywood” studios focus on “other things” and not traditional theatrical distribution and physical media.

Read More:
https://dvdandblurayreleasereport.com/pdf/31.pdf