Why Are DVDs Expensive?

Who doesn't want to chill on the weekend? There are many ways you can enjoy the weekend and one of the best ones is to catch up on a TV series or watch the movie you've wanted to see for a long time. While this used to require a trip to the rental store to pick out your favorite one this has now turned into ordering a DVD or Blu-Ray online or simply streaming it on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or Disney+. 

Although many people have purchased DVDs the streaming services have continued to grow at a rapid pace for one main reason… the price! You can join each of these streaming services for only a few bucks a month and most of them allow whole families to use them making the service even cheaper per person! 

When comparing DVDs to streaming services DVDs are genuinely expensive to buy. A single movie can cost you $20+ when it is newly released. So why are DVDs so expensive? 

DVDs are expensive not because of the material used to make them necessarily but because the makers of the movies or shows have to spend a lot of money to create and market them. Most movies (except the most popular ones) don’t make much in theaters and the only way that the studios can turn a profit is through selling those DVDs. 

So basically, you have to pay more for a DVD because the content is quite expensive. DVDs also come with the cost of freight, labels, cases, store costs, etc. That all adds up quickly and raises the purchase price of the DVD substantially over what it can be purchased for when it is just streamed over the internet. 

Many people still like to purchase DVDs and enjoy them because they never have to worry about the show or movie being removed from a streaming service. They also don’t have to pay monthly for a bunch of different streaming services or pay for the internet to use them either. 

In the rest of this article we will go a little more in depth about the costs that DVDs have to make up as well as some other important things to consider. 

All about DVDs

DVDs or Digital Video Discs came out around 1995 and immediately became a great hit because of the great demand. DVDs usually offer high storage capacity and are easily available too. You can enjoy watching movies, TV shows, or even record your home videos and other content on a DVD. Although their demand has decreased over the last few years, there are still many people who are interested and purchase DVDs. 

DVDs are quite easy to carry and were quite revolutionary when compared to the VHS format. DVDs with nothing on them are quite affordable but if you are looking for content on the DVD like movies or a TV series, you may have to pay a lot for just one movie or season of a show. One of the huge benefits to DVDs over streaming services is once you buy the DVD it is yours forever! You don’t have to pay a monthly cost to continue to watch it and as long as you take care of the discs they can last for many decades! 

Many movies still come out on DVDs and there is still a decent demand for them. However oer time the trend has certainly been towards streaming and at some point in the near future it is likely that DVDs will be discontinued altogether.

Why are DVDs expensive?

The demand for streaming platforms has increased a lot over the last few years. With streaming, you can enjoy watching the content of your choice easily just by paying a small monthly fee. But even after so many years of the launch of DVDs, these are still popular. Many people from around the world still rent them and enjoy watching content through them. 

DVDs may be a little expensive when comparing them to streaming services but compared to the cost of what making that TV show or movie cost the producers they are a real bargain. Many production companies spend millions upon millions of dollars making a single movie or TV show and you can purchase a copy of the DVD for a few dollars! 

Of course DVDs are more expensive than streaming a movie or show but that is because there are far more expenses that go into creating and selling a physical product then there is streaming one over the internet. Another reason why DVDs cost more than streaming is because they are normally the newest releases of the movie. Most companies will release a movie in theater for a few weeks and then 3-4 months from the original release in theaters they will put it on DVD and Blu-Ray. After another 3-4 months of selling the DVD they will then release it onto streaming platforms. This means that normally the most expensive DVDs are those movies that have recently been released. They can command a higher price since people can’t stream them (at least without renting the movie) and this window is the best way for those production companies to make up for any money that they have lost in making the film. 

Are DVDs worth it these days?

If you are someone who buys DVDs, you are in good company. Although DVDs aren't as popular now as they once were, many people still purchase DVDs on a regular basis. Some people use DVDs because they don’t have the internet or don’t want to pay the monthly cost for streaming while others prefer to just buy the shows they like and not have to wade through thousands of horrible movies or shows to find one good one! 

As streaming services start to produce their own content and carry more and more of the movies and shows that are produced there will be less and less of a demand for DVDs. With streaming services you will have access to much more content than you would have with DVDs and at a substantial savings. 

For example, I know someone who has: Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ and spends under $5 a month for all 3 services because they split the service costs with other people in their family. At $5 a month they have access to a library of thousands of movies and shows to watch and it is still cheaper than buying 4 DVDs a year! 

If you don’t have the internet or are not interested in watching a bunch of different shows then buying a DVD set might still be a good choice for you. For most people, streaming is a better option and streaming will likely continue to get better in the future as well. 

What to do with old DVDs?

It is true that many people out there still have many DVDs in the basement, garage, attic, or storage closet. These DVDs might have been worth something many years ago when they were originally purchased but they are far from being valuable anymore. 

These DVDs may take up a lot of space if you have a lot of them, so if you are wondering what to do with them, here are a couple of quick ideas. 

The first thing that you can do is simply sell your DVDs online through Facebook, Craigslist, etc. There are many people who buy DVDs in bulk to resell in thrift shops etc. If you are looking to get rid of all of your collection at once it is probably worth an average of .50-$1 per movie depending on how recent they are. You can sell off the newer ones or TV series for more individually but many people prefer to get rid of all of them at once. 

You can also use them for renting or can sell them to local stores. Most local stores will pay you even less than the amount mentioned above and some pawn shops won’t even accept DVDs at all anymore! 

You can find many sites online where you can sell your old DVDs without much trouble but most of them require your DVDs to be in excellent condition and the prices that they are willing to give you are normally less than ideal.  

Conclusion

All in all, although you may not be able to find the latest DVDs at a cheap price, it doesn't mean that they are necessarily expensive. You can also get your hands on cheap DVDs too if you look around and aren’t trying to buy the latest releases. 

Newly released DVDs will always be far more expensive than slightly older ones and if you can wait 6-8 months before buying a new movie you can often save a substantial amount over buying it on the day it is released on DVD.