Best Buy Gets Rid Of Physical Media At Just The Wrong Time
Best Buy has recently announced plans to discontinue sales of physical film media in their more than 1,000 stores across the United States. At a glance, this seems to make perfect sense, as many consumers have already cast aside physical media in favor of digital streaming platforms in the past decade with the rise of services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+.
Massive Mistake
However, it seems that Best Buy is making a massive mistake with this business move. A number of prominent filmmakers have recently endorsed physical media such as Blu-ray as the gold standard for ownership of art.
Directors like James Cameron and Christopher Nolan have recently come out in support of owning physical media, especially due to the shifting landscape of digital streaming.
Netflix And Streamers Not Enough
Despite the ease of access and extensive libraries afforded by Netflix or Max, streamers are at risk of randomly losing access to their favorite projects at the behest of corporate executives trying to save a quick dollar.
While it may have made sense for Best Buy to ditch discs in their stores ten years ago, it seems clear that the medium is making a significant comeback in the coming years.
Willow A Good Example
An excellent example of this streaming issue can be seen in the recent Disney+ reboot series Willow. That show opened to rave reviews and massive viewership numbers, only to be unceremoniously removed from all streamers on the orders of Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Disney+ subscribers may not be able to catch the limited series, even if it was the single driving force behind their subscription in the first place. DVD copies of Willow have been sold in outlets such as Best Buy and Walmart since the show was booted from Disney+, making it the only way to watch the series in 2024 and beyond.
Streamers Randomly Remove Content
Even if streamers don’t remove projects entirely, the constant shifting of media ownership and distribution rights has made streaming a constant hassle. Fans have been unable to determine when and where they can catch their favorite films.
Single episodes of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Community, and The Simpsons have been randomly removed from their streaming homes, due to arbitrary censorship practices, making Best Buy the perfect store to frequent if you’re a completionist who hates skipping episodes.
Now that the massive tech store is bowing out of the DVD and Blu-ray game, it seems that Amazon has all but cornered the market on physical media.
Shifting Away
Of course, Best Buy plans to continue selling discs for video game consoles, as well as other physical game data such as Nintendo Switch game cards.
Perhaps the company plans to shift their model away from the entertainment niche to opt for a greater focus on tech and household items, though the move seems short-sighted at best.
DVD Sales As A Plan
For years, DVD sales were utilized by the company as a marketing strategy to get consumers in the door before upselling them to entertainment tech such as high-quality television and home media sets. Unless Best Buy plans to ameliorate their sales with another wide-spread product, it seems clear that ditching DVDs is a bad investment.
