more women - more women - more women

[BJ_M]

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - The 7-year-old DVD format has reached another milestone.

DVD marketing campaigns no longer focus on the technology-savvy males who fueled the format's rapid ascent in its infancy. During the past year, females have emerged as a significant sales driver -- and as marketing targets.


"Women are now involved in about 50% of purchases," says Sean Wargo, analyst for Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Electronics Assn.


Women's DVD purchasing has changed dramatically during the past two years, according to Lori MacPherson, VP of brand marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment.


"Only about a third of women claimed to be their family's primary DVD purchaser in 2002," she says. "In 2004, that number has gone up to more than half."


In addition to buying for the family, women are loading up on DVDs for themselves. They own an average of 34, compared with about 57 DVDs for men, according to Video Store magazine.


Though men are still far ahead of women in buying DVDs, women's purchasing has increased at a significantly higher rate than men's in the last five years.


The magazine reports that women's DVD collections have grown 325% since 1999, when their typical collection contained eight titles. Men's collections have grown 128% since 1999, when they owned 25 DVDs on average.


What has attracted so many women to DVD?


Sources attribute the shift to decreasing prices for DVD hardware and increased mass-merchant attention to the format. The rise in female- and family-oriented releases and heightened interest in such mom-friendly DVD applications as in-car players are also playing major roles.


In response to the trend, studios are spending more marketing dollars on female-centric DVD campaigns, while retailers strive to make stores more inviting to female shoppers.


WHY NOW?


Wider female interest in DVD emerged in 2003.


"Last year, you could buy a DVD player for $60 or $70," Koch Entertainment Distribution VP of video Dan Gurlitz says. "That's when families were truly replacing their VHS machines -- not just in the living room, but in the secondary rooms in the house -- and women started buying more DVDs."


More than half of U.S. households had a DVD player by the end of last year, and that amount should grow to two-thirds by the end of 2004, according to the Digital Entertainment Group.


In terms of content, more of last year's available DVD titles appealed to women, executives say.

[redwudz]

Female techno nerds! I'm not sure I approve. Are not males the dominant nerd species?

[ViRaL1]

I wonder if it's because men are pirating more.

[flaninacupboard]

it's because women have had to buy 12 copies of both harry potter movies because their little darlings keep scratchig them

[SatStorm]

I'll afraid about it, when they gonna start buy porn at 50%...

Then, we sure have a problem....

[somebodeez]

Hi Fellas
Scoot over, more of us are arriving

[flaninacupboard]

hey, sounds good to me. when he wants to watch something good she can watch her box sets of will and grace

[somebodeez]

she can watch her box sets of will and grace

I think not

[BJ_M]

she can watch her box sets of will and grace

I think not

somebodeez:
don't pay any attention -- they will learn someday ...

[flaninacupboard]

she can watch her box sets of will and grace

I think not

somebodeez:
don't pay any attention -- they will learn someday ...

Do we have a closet fan?!

[Capmaster]

I wonder if it's because men are pirating more.

If the wives are like mine, they do the shopping and they pick up a DVD if it's on the list. It may be for the husband but she's the one who goes out and buys it. The statistics are probably meaningless unless they have asked additional information like "Is this DVD for you or your significant other?"

[somebodeez]

I wish they had talked to me

[Supreme2k]

A/S/L?

[ViRaL1]

I wonder if it's because men are pirating more.

If the wives are like mine, they do the shopping and they pick up a DVD if it's on the list. It may be for the husband but she's the one who goes out and buys it. The statistics are probably meaningless unless they have asked additional information like "Is this DVD for you or your significant other?"

I'm sure that's a large part of it. But I'd be willing to bet that there are more men than women copying DVDs as well.

[Capmaster]

I wonder if it's because men are pirating more.

If the wives are like mine, they do the shopping and they pick up a DVD if it's on the list. It may be for the husband but she's the one who goes out and buys it. The statistics are probably meaningless unless they have asked additional information like "Is this DVD for you or your significant other?"

I'm sure that's a large part of it. But I'd be willing to bet that there are more men than women copying DVDs as well.

Safe bet

[somebodeez]

A/S/L?

I'll answer the middle one
Female