New! Economic & Environmental Analysis of Digital Media

We’ve been speaking with the good folks at Futuresource for a few years about the cross industry adoption of digital entertainment. They have a firm grasp on the supply chain impact of a move from physical/optical media to digital, and how that impact is driving economic and environmental change.

The results of this research are outlined in an extensive report titled “Value Added by Retail Digital Entertainment Systems: An Economic and Environmental Analysis,” posted along with other white papers and interesting insights in our Resource Center. The report follows a disc from manufacturing to store, and then back again with returns and destruction. The costs are vast, resting with both retailers and content owners.

Retailers should pay particularly close attention to a transition to digital, as they’re currently left out of the digital entertainment equation. Most of the discussion and technologies to-date have centered on streaming to the home, which, given the complexities and bandwidth requirements, contribute to the slow growth of (legitimate) digital entertainment use.

An excerpt from Futuresource:

“…As retailers begin to question the economics of home video shelf space (particularly for catalogue titles), the concept of the digital kiosk becomes more appealing. The challenges of forecasting inventory levels for DVD and BD, handling and returning overstocks, managing out of stock issues and in-store shrink all disappear with the digital kiosk…

“A notable benefit to the retailer is the range of titles that they will be able to carry in the digital kiosk; the retailer is able to stock slow-moving long-tail catalogue without tying up capital in inventory. Timely content can be available immediately, such as last night’s episode of a popular television show. Also, smaller video publishers will no longer struggle to obtain space in-store.”

There is a lot of interesting analysis in the white paper that will help both retailers and content owners evaluate the next steps in their digital strategy. Dig in.