Blu-Ray Makers Cut Back On Ads
Industry officials offer conflicting opinions.
By Swanni
That's according to a study by DisplaySearch, as reported by Video Business.
The research firm says that newspaper circular ads for Blu-ray high-def DVD players fell from 50 to 100 percent between Feb. 10 and March 11, compared to November and December.
Although Blu-ray makers would seem eager to capitalize on HD DVD's exit, DisplaySearch concludes that they are trying to save money after investing heavily in the format war.
"The biggest, most obvious (reason) is there is less competitive pressure to push (Blu-ray) right now,” said Paul Erickson, director of high-def and DVD at DisplaySearch, according to Video Business. "There is not as much pressure to turn in a strong performance, and they can look to stabilize the dropping of prices.”
But Panasonic offers another opinion on the advertising cut-back: a shortage of available players. Why advertise if you don't have enough players to sell?
"Panasonic didn’t expect Toshiba to pull the plug on that particular day, and now there is more demand for Blu-ray, and we and other brands are reacting to that,” said Panasonic's Tony Jasionowski. “We’re trying to get more product out. We are on top of this and have made our factory in Japan aware of this in order to increase the availability of product.”
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