The Tribal Mind: When the trust goes, the viewers go shopping

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

To discuss how the latest immigrants are improving Australia, go to Who We Are

by David Dale
It's logical to assume that most Australians buy DVDs to recapture their pleasure in a movie they remember from the cinema or to catch up with a movie they didn't get round to seeing when it was first on. Logical, but wrong. There's much to be learned about how Australians are changing from this chart, kindly supplied by the research organisation GfK Australia:

Australia's top selling DVDs (first week of October): 1 Supernatural Season 3; 2 Horton Hears A Who; 3 AFL Premiers 2008 Hawthorn; 4 Two And A Half Men Season 4; 5 Heroes Season 2 Digipack Box Set; 6 Two And A Half Men Season 3; 7 Heroes Season 2 Slimcase; 8 Two And A Half Men Season 1; 9 Beverly Hills 90210 Season 5; 10 Happy Feet.

Only two of the ten are movies. One is a sports documentary. The rest are TV shows. And therein lies the mystery -- why are three of the ten best selling DVDs from a TV show which Channel Nine is already showing for five hours a week, two of them from a show Channel Seven is showing for an hour a week and one of them from a show Channel Ten is showing for an hour a week?

This is my speculation: it's because there is no longer any trust between viewers and TV stations.

The fans of Two and a Half Men, Heroes or Supernatural are thinking: "Yes, they may be showing it now, but any minute they'll cancel it, move it to late at night without telling me, play it out of order or interrupt the sequence with old episodes. The only way to be sure I can see it in the correct order, when I want to, is to buy every possible DVD. And then I'll never need to watch TV again."

Of course, no blockbuster movies were released around the time that chart was compiled. The top ten a month from now will no doubt include Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Sex and the City, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But if my thesis about the breakdown of trust is correct, the remining six next month will still be TV shows.

We might get a better sense of the trend by looking at the most purchased DVDs for the year so far: 1 Underbelly, 2 The Bucket List, 3 Alvin and the Chipmunks, 4 Step Up 2, 5 Stargate: Continuum (a made-for-TV movie); 6 Sweeney Todd; 7 Jumper; 8 Batman Begins; 9 Fool's Gold, 10 Rambo 2008.

The rest of the top 40 included two Wiggles song collections, Dexter season two (shown late at night by Ten), Flight of the Conchords season 1 (shown late by Ten); Top Gear in America (shown by SBS); Get Smart season 1; one made-for-TV Barbie story (that's the doll, not outdoor cooking) and a lot of movies.

So we'd be wrong to assume that Australians have stopped building up libraries of great movies. It's just that they are now also building up libraries of great TV series -- and panic buying to forestall the erratic behaviour of the TV networks which have ceased to be their main sources of entertainment.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

"Yes, they may be showing it now, but any minute they'll cancel it, move it to late at night without telling me, play it out of order or interrupt the sequence with old episodes."
Exactly. Live TV is a distant memory

by Mike on October 26, 2008 at 05:48 PM

Colour me shocked that people want to buy Two and a Half men on DVD I would have thought one viewing enough.
I still want a library of great movies - there are only a few TV series I want on DVD - Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, West Wing, Robin Hood and Firefly - plus the requisite BBC series/ treatment of Pride and Prejudice. Others such as Gilmore Girls I would borrow/ rent rather than buy. This is however still necessary because of the lack of trust with FTA TV programming.
I am in the process of building a DVD library of classic films as well as a few modern ones thrown in - The other week I bought The Court Jester (Danny Kaye) and I did buy Ironman yesterday - but I had seen it at the movies first.

by Cathy on October 26, 2008 at 11:03 PM

I'm a big tv on dvd buyer. I own the entire series of Friends, Scrubs, Summer Heights High. I will soon complete my collection of Will and Grace. I have quite a few series of The Simpsons (I use them for work) and Family Guy, but I tend to wait until they've gone down in price - $60 is too much. I have a huge movie collection too.
Funnily enough, I tend to watch the tv series more than the movies I own. I put them on in the background when i'm doing other stuff (marking, reading, sleeping), and it's much easier to do that with tv shows rather than a film that has a definite orientation-complication-conclusion that has to be viewed the entire time. Yesterday, for example, I began watching Season 1 of Scrubs, but I also hung out the washing, read the paper online on my laptop, skim-read a book we're considering adding to our year 9 syllabus and had an hour nap. If I had been watching say 3 movies, rather than 3 discs of Scrubs, I wouldn't have gotten anything done.
Reason I buy them? Friends was because Channel 9 completely screwed the final season, so I bought that, then continued the collection over a few years. The Simpsons because I use them a lot for work (which I can then claim them back on tax once I can demonstrate that they have been used). Will and Grace because Channel 7 completely screwed up the entire series - the final season was shown in something like 5 different timeslots. Scrubs because I came late to the show (bought season 4 for my brother-in-law, he already had it so I kept it, watched and then went out and bought the first three seasons to catch up), and also the horrific timeslots channel 7 gives it. Yes, I can record it, but end up having to record 15 mins before and after, so if I burn it to disc, I end up having to use 1 dvd for maybe 3 episodes rather than fitting 6 or 7. I also like repeat viewing all of these shows (I begin a series from season one and watch it all the way through, then go to the next show), hate the ads.
Funnily enough, it's always the tv series that people want to borrow as well.

by Beckala on October 27, 2008 at 06:54 AM

We actually bought 90210 season 5 on Saturday! About a month ago when Ten stuffed up the new series for the Brownlow (how that is entertainment is still beyond me and I live here) I hopped down to my local video store and hired season 3 (I only started watching from 1995 back in the day) we (my wife & I) then bought season 4 and now 5 we've been tearing through it non-stop. The show is kinda kitchsy right now so for me I'm more a catch-up kinda guy, but I can see why people are buying Heroes and Underbelly, no idea why Two and Half Men, it's already on 10 times a week (11 if you count Fox8) and next year this new channel 111 will be stripping the show as well.

by Jason on October 27, 2008 at 08:33 AM

I can go with your theory of why people are buying dvds of TV shows except for a couple of queries:
Why are people stocking up on 'Two and a Half Men' when it's quite plain that Nine are going to show every episode they can get their hands on and repeat them ad nauseum or at least until someone over there at Nine has an idea (any idea)?
The comment that people are not only compiling dvd libraries of 'great movies' but dvd libraries of 'great TV shows' isn't reflected in any of the shows or movies cited ('Jumper'???). Why do people feel the need to compile libraries of B grade garbage is the real question, or at least, why do people feel compelled to compile libraries of stuff they'll probably watch once and then never again? It says more about compulsive consumerism than anything else.
I'm sure there's a medication that could help.

by darren on October 27, 2008 at 08:45 AM

I only buy "big' movies on DVD (think Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Star Wars etc), but I love tv on DVD. Have every Stargate SG1 and Atlantis and assorted movie versions, Supernatural, Charmed, Buffy, Prison Break, Friends, Band of Brothers and many more. The whole family watches their own favourites many times over. We buy TV DVD's because the networks really do mess the scheduling around. The time slot moves are bad enough but I find the repeats thrown in during a new season unbearable.

by Suze on October 27, 2008 at 10:14 AM

darren posted: Why do people feel the need to compile libraries of B grade garbage is the real question, or at least, why do people feel compelled to compile libraries of stuff they'll probably watch once and then never again? It says more about compulsive consumerism than anything else.
That is exactly what my brother-in-law does. He doesn't care how crappy, if it's cheap, he'll buy it. He bought some ridiculous movie with Patrick Swayze and a truck - some thriller of extraordinarily poor quality. He would rather have the big collection of crap rather than pick and choose. I'm really choosy about what I pay money for, so i'll rent dvds rather than purchase without viewing, which I think is what a lot of people do.

by Beckala on October 27, 2008 at 10:20 AM

"I'm sure there's a medication that could help."
Please tell me about it Darren!
I have over 600 VHS tapes, most home-recorded, and I'm now not counting DVDs. Already hundreds. I use DVD-RW but rarely over-record.
I love buying the odd favourite movie, but buy mainly TV series.
Last season of Friends was bought for the same reason as others - nein treated it and us with contempt.
I swore never again!
Currently D/L The Shield season 7, week by week, because I might die of old age before 10 gets to show it.
Will be spending the summer holidays with the last 2 seasons of Six Feet Under, and may start The Sopranos from the beginning again.
Love the freedom, and NO ADS!!!!

by Sal on October 27, 2008 at 11:31 AM

I have only bought 2 tv series of dvds. Standard reasons, Damages - Ch9 moved it to a later then later timeslot that we just gave up & bought it. Dexter - Ch10 has it on so late I forget to set up the recorder, bought series 2 at the same time therefore don't have to wait. This strange news about Two & Half Men sales, it sets off my conspiracy theories : Each employee of Ch9 has to buy 1 dvd each week & then Eddie buys them back & resells to distributor, simple!!!

by PJ453 on October 27, 2008 at 12:03 PM

A TV series set is often a much better investment than a movie. Going to the cinema here is already outrageously costly (more than London now) so a DVD is cheaper than 2 tickets to the same film.
A TV series box may give you 5 or more times the viewing time as a movie for the same price. Since I'm not dealing with ads, or even the hassle of recording, these boxes become TV on demand for me: I have complete control over my viewing choices. I don't worry about exposure to "Two and a Half Neurons." or the inevitable Aussie rehash.
In addition there's plenty of material that may never get shown here (and if it is, never twice in the same time-slot): British material such as QI, Pulling, No Heroics, the list goes on.

by Mike on October 27, 2008 at 06:18 PM

Spot on. I've acquired several TV shows in recent years for this exact reason. I'm sick to death of channels taking forever to show them, moving them around timeslots, bumping them for so-called "big events", playing them out of order and genuinely jerking me around. Plus, really great TV (Buffy, X-Files) can't just be watched once to be fully appreciated. Like any other artform it needs to be viewed several times to be fully understood.

Tribal Mind replies: Yes, but Two and A Half Men???

by genfie on October 29, 2008 at 01:24 PM

Oh gosh..go Supernatural for ranking number 1..... I really shouldn't be surprised on this, it did sell out within the first few weeks of release. But yay! I'm not even going to think about how are ratings are going up and down for season four now.. thats just fantastic!

by Katrina on October 29, 2008 at 03:52 PM

Can't explain Two and a Half Men. Can't explain anyone ever buying any sitcom on DVD, actually. Even Seinfeld, as great as it was the first time around, has been significantly dated since airing...nope, can't help you on that one I'm afraid.

by genfie on October 29, 2008 at 04:00 PM

I like buying tv on dvd because i can easily watch them at any time without ads, watermarks and edits (on most of them anyway). I am not buying because the networks move around and take shows off. They are the reason we got into most of these shows in the first place. Why would a lot of people buy Underbelly if they never saw it? Would have been a waste of money, if they didn't like it but at least Nine does a good job in getting there dramas out on dvd. McLeod's Daughters final season is out next week and only 3 episodes have aired!!!! The Strip is due in early December while Sea Patrol and Scorched are also out next week. Rush will be likely to be released in the summer/ autumn months at the latest and at least 10 do have some shows out. 7 are hopeless, where is City Homicide??? More loyalty points lost if Packed To The Rafters does not get released and no chance of making the success of the Underbelly dvds.
Would be nice to see more older shows including I Love Lucy, Green Acres, the Beverly Hillbillies, Happy Days, Cheers, Laverne & Shirley, The Odd Couple and more recent shows, Reba, Hope & Faith and Cold Case.

by cameron on October 31, 2008 at 08:50 AM

It's not even just that we can't trust the channels... it's just that we need to be able to relive the greatness that was a particular season over and over. Supernatural Season 3 was broadcast be Channel 10, in it's entirety, fastracked. It finished months ago. It's just that we need DVDs for when withdrawal issues kick in, say over the summer break ;).

by Susie on October 31, 2008 at 03:15 PM

I buy a lot of TV on DVD. Started because I came late to Stargate and wanted to watch the early seasons, then continued buying the series on DVD to the end because I couldn't be bothered buying hide and seek Channel 7. The shows I buy are either ones that have been stuffed around or well hidden by the networks (eg West Wing) or shows that I have heard about from friends, but missed on TV (eg Deadwood, Arrested Development). I am happy to make the investment because when you spread the cost out over the amount of time it takes to watch it's great value for money. I also have a lot of friends who buy TV on DVD too - we loan our stuff to each other so I don't always have to buy something I watch - I'm currently seeing Heroes that way and my copies of Deadwood have made at least three people in my office very happy.

Why is 2 and a half men popular on DVD? I can only assume it is a carryover of its bizarre popularity on TV. Those that have only started watching in the last few months are buying it to catch up - not realising they just have to leave the TV glued to 9 and they'll eventually see all episodes. That particular show however will not be in my shopping basket.

by gert on November 01, 2008 at 09:35 AM

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Who We Are

The Tribal Mind: When the trust goes, the viewers go shopping

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