In a week with 4 high profile new releases, Showtime’s Dexter lead the new pack of TV DVD sellers with nearly double the unit sales (298,000) of second place The Simpsons (167,000). The difference in the dollar volumes is a bit perplexing though. Dexter’s price point ($34.99 on Amazon, $4353 list) is nearly the same as The Simpsons ($31.99 Amazon, list $50) but it beat The Simpsons in dollar volume by only 14%.
Also new for the week, but well back in third was Gossip Girl, and in fourth close behind was Sons of Anarchy.
This was a big week in particular for TV show DVD sales. Those 4 new releases were all in the top 7 DVD sellers for the week.
After 14 weeks, the first season of True Blood continues to hang onto the weekly list and shows no sign of going away anytime soon. It nearly steady from last week with 38,000 units sold. On a revenue basis True Blood moved up to the 10th best selling DVD of the season. The only other TV show that was the top 50 was 24, which just this week dropped off the annual top 50 list.
Family Guy and Battlestar Galactica both lost sales rapidly from last week and look likely to be ending their run on the list of weekly sales we see.
US TV Show DVD Sales for Week Ending August 23, 2009:
| Title | Units this Week | % Change | Total Units | Sales this Week | Total Sales | Weeks in Release |
| Dexter – The Complete Third Season | 297,580 | 297,580 | $6,076,584 | $6,076,584 | 1 | |
| The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season | 166,788 | 166,788 | $5,335,548 | $5,335,548 | 1 | |
| Gossip Girl: The Complete Second Series | 104,289 | 104,289 | $3,783,605 | $3,783,605 | 1 | |
| Sons of Anarchy – Season One | 90,235 | 90,235 | $2,886,618 | $2,886,618 | 1 | |
| True Blood: The Complete First Season | 38,338 | -13.10% | 1,352,942 | $1,352,565 | $47,098,225 | 14 |
| Family Guy – Volume 7 | 18,513 | -60.00% | 539,821 | $378,035 | $13,477,182 | 10 |
| Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 | 17,365 | -50.20% | 283,775 | $546,824 | $8,998,563 | 4 |
You can see past weekly lists of TV Show DVD Sales numbers here.
Source: the-numbers.com
One of those 297,580 units was bought by me.
I wonder what the budget for an average episode for True Blood is.
around $3 million? The studios behind True Blood must of recouped their investment in the series.
Right?
According to Amazon the list price for Dexter is $43. The blu ray list is $58, though.
tdot, I would guess the budget per episode is a lot less than that. Cable series have a lower scale than broadcast, so they cost a lot less.
Bad read of the strikethru number on the TB list price. Fixed.
Me too Chief. And I already saw it all when it aired last season on Showtime. Go Dexter!
All Dexter seasons have been great, but season 3 is my favorite so far.
I really should consider actually watching season 3 past the point where it bored me to tears and I stopped watching.
I imagine that Dexter must be selling in significant amounts at discounts somewhere (if not on Amazon). The average price is about $20. Simpson’s average price is almost to the penny the same as the Amazon price, which is freaky.
Julia — You REALLY have to be patient with season three. It’s a slow burn, but boy does it pay off. I actually think it’s my favorite of the three so far.
I am on Season 1 Episode 9 of Dexter right now. I watched season 1 on CBS, but I’m rewatching it. I plan on watching season 2 soon, and buying season 3.
I kind of got bored during season 3 and didn’t watch the last 4-5 episodes. I think the series moves a little too slow especially when there just one serial killer the police is trying to catch.
I’ve been burned by serialized TV too. What is initially gripping is tiring by about a season or two in.
Nowadays, i\f everything isn’t back the way it was at the beginning of the next episode, I’m not interested.
I bought The Simpsons Season 12 on Amazon. I don’t get how they can say that it costs $50 in that list, that’s crazy. I think Wal-Mart sells it for like 20-25 bucks, so I really don’t get that number.
I am surprised that with DVD sales declining, and with more free online options that Gossip Girls first week sales is more then 10,000 higher then last year. I will be very curious to see how the rest of the CW line up does (that was out last year for comparison).
Yeah, The Simpsons’ 12th Season had 30,000 more than last year, too.
I’m not surprised. Dexter is so much more interesting and infinitely better than the same old tired Simpsons stuff.
As for the Season 3 comments, I’d agree. It was paced much slower than the first two seasons but boy, was the payoff huge. Compared to Season 1 where they did telegraph the eventual ending with the “doll” reveal and Season 2 where it looked like Dexter was losing control, Season 3 was just as good. I’d definitely consider it an essential purchase.
True Blood is probably about $3 million per episode, so the studio has easily recouped the costs. Also, HBO itself is running large profits and it’s part of the AOL Time Warner behemoth. Financially as well, TB is WOW.
I bought Dexter Season 3 and Gossip Season 2!
I’m interested in seeing the Smallville DVD sales for season 8 when they’re available.
knew it