lidar2
Castellan
You know, now that you mention it, I actually do rather like Attack of the Cybermen ...
Likes: 5,789
|
Post by lidar2 on Mar 23, 2022 12:56:18 GMT
We in the UK hear so much now about the rising cost of living and the coming increases over the next 12 months as inflation is forecast to hit circa 10% and there are likely to be significant rises in the costs of food, fuel and energy. Speaking personally, my car cost me £20 more to fill last night and my electricity monthly payment increased by £26 this month.
I was wondering how this will affect BF, it at all. I touched on this in the Today's Purchases thread a few days ago but that's not the ideal place to discuss it.
Every forum member's circumstances will vary and we all have different amounts of disposable income each month, but I would guess for a lot of us BF is a luxury and if we find ourselves having to fork out an extra £100-£200 a month on some of the basic necessities, then there is less available to buy BF products
For myself, I can see that I will probably spend a bit less on BF or else I will have to be a bit smarter with my forward planning and pre-orders or maybe more strategic with the birthday and Christmas presents when my family ask me what I want.
But, assuming I am not the only one in this position, will BF notice a dip in their sales figures over the next year? And if so, will they respond with lower prices, more sales, greater pre-order and bundle discounts etc., or will they simply reduce their output and be more ruthless about ending the ranges that don't sell as well. Will it affect their exchange rate policy for sales to other parts of the world? Or will everything just carry on as normal?
Not sure what the economic climate is like in other parts of the world - apologies if this is too UK-centric for some forum members
|
|
|
Post by mark687 on Mar 23, 2022 13:56:07 GMT
BF main fluctuating Costs are always going to be the manufacturer and shipment of CDs. I imagine every other cost is contract fixed. The fact we haven't had a CD or Postage increase in nearly 6 years a welcome surprise.
Personal circumstances are personal circumstances, I afford BF by purchasing pre Bundles ASAP cause its when their cheapest and factor them into a mental budget. As time goes on circumstances may change and BF becomes a proper luxury.
Back to BF's POV if anyone remembers other threads on this subject whenever they've addressed it they've said "If everyone we know of who uses Torrents bought from us we could permanently bring down prices in a matter of weeks"
Regards
mark687
|
|
aztec
Chancellery Guard
Likes: 2,849
|
Post by aztec on Mar 23, 2022 14:24:21 GMT
Speaking as a UK member of the forum and A) someone who works part time (for personal reasons I'd rather not go into) B) has cut back on BF purchases substationally in recent years C) mostly lurks these days.
The only range I really follow completely these days is the 8th Doctor, I dip in and out of other ranges depending on sales/pre-order pricing-I've never paid full price for a story, that's not me just being cheap or stingy-I probably couldn't afford to collect even the limited amount of BF audios I do regularly, were the prices much higher than they are now. My outgoings are probably smaller than many on the forum, but my budget for luxury goods/hobbies is also smaller in proportion, I try to support BF as much as I can (and in an ideal world I'd like to support them more) but as bills go up across the board that may have to change, even for my limited budget, for me the frequent sales are the main reason I own as much BF as I do, though I'm not sure how many of BF's customers buy at full price.
Most on this forum no doubt have much different circumstances to me (frankly I'm astonished so many of you are able to follow so many ranges-let alone find the time to listen to everything!) so I'm much more interested to see how possible price rises affect BF's core/regular listeners-with the demise of the monthly range and the move to a broader range of boxset ranges/spinoffs are BF factoring in people picking and choosing what ranges they now follow? Is bringing in new listeners who follow only a few ranges, rather than keeping subcribers who collect all more important? Will this increase in productions backfire with prices increases looking likely?
That's not to say I don't understand or resent BF's current pricing model, they are a small company and the audiodramas are very expensive to make.
But I can't help but wonder in the age of spotify/free podcasts whether the current pricing model is outdated or seen as offputting to new listeners? If you can get an entire season of clasic who on Blu Ray for £30(?) does paying £16.99-£29.99 for three hour long audio dramas seem a fair comparison?
I can't remember...but has Nick Briggs ever addressed the idea of lauching a streaming service for Big Finish? A fixed monthly fee for access to a set amount of stories (perhaps with recent releases exempt for a couple of years) would be easier to budget for many.
I dunno, I'm rambling and will go back to lurking...
|
|
|
Post by Audio Watchdog on Mar 23, 2022 19:14:26 GMT
Speaking as a UK member of the forum and A) someone who works part time (for personal reasons I'd rather not go into) B) has cut back on BF purchases substationally in recent years C) mostly lurks these days. The only range I really follow completely these days is the 8th Doctor, I dip in and out of other ranges depending on sales/pre-order pricing-I've never paid full price for a story, that's not me just being cheap or stingy-I probably couldn't afford to collect even the limited amount of BF audios I do regularly, were the prices much higher than they are now. My outgoings are probably smaller than many on the forum, but my budget for luxury goods/hobbies is also smaller in proportion, I try to support BF as much as I can (and in an ideal world I'd like to support them more) but as bills go up across the board that may have to change, even for my limited budget, for me the frequent sales are the main reason I own as much BF as I do, though I'm not sure how many of BF's customers buy at full price. Most on this forum no doubt have much different circumstances to me (frankly I'm astonished so many of you are able to follow so many ranges-let alone find the time to listen to everything!) so I'm much more interested to see how possible price rises affect BF's core/regular listeners-with the demise of the monthly range and the move to a broader range of boxset ranges/spinoffs are BF factoring in people picking and choosing what ranges they now follow? Is bringing in new listeners who follow only a few ranges, rather than keeping subcribers who collect all more important? Will this increase in productions backfire with prices increases looking likely? That's not to say I don't understand or resent BF's current pricing model, they are a small company and the audiodramas are very expensive to make. But I can't help but wonder in the age of spotify/free podcasts whether the current pricing model is outdated or seen as offputting to new listeners? If you can get an entire season of clasic who on Blu Ray for £30(?) does paying £16.99-£29.99 for three hour long audio dramas seem a fair comparison? I can't remember... but has Nick Briggs ever addressed the idea of lauching a streaming service for Big Finish?A fixed monthly fee for access to a set amount of stories (perhaps with recent releases exempt for a couple of years) would be easier to budget for many. I dunno, I'm rambling and will go back to lurking... In a recent podcast I think he did indeed address it and it was a negative answer. As in it doesn’t make financial sense for them. Also streaming would probably require renegotiated contracts, if the license with the BBC would even allow it.
|
|
|
Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on Mar 23, 2022 19:31:23 GMT
It's crisis time here in Oz. I read that in Tasmania they are setting all public transport free Mon to Friday for 5 weeks to try and help. the cost of petrol has Almost doubled over night since the Russia incident.
The cost of BF "in general" for us non UK'ers has always been high so I guess we have all just conditioned ourselves to an extent to budget carefully.. Its the 2 postage and handling charges that really drum up the price. Basically for me, a $ale of 40-50% minimum is enough for me to consider it a saving, to offset those 2 costs. That's just a fact unfortunately.
|
|
|
Post by BHTvsTFC on Mar 23, 2022 19:40:52 GMT
Their expenses will be constantly increasing as well. What will be will be I guess. They are an expensive indulgence, but then so are comic books and other spin off media involved with shows and films. I think the casual fan will continue to dip in and out as they go along and the die hards will sacrifice other things to carry on buying.
They have continually good offers on older products. The current Benny offer is a good example of this, regular offers on the first one hundred stories is another - one hundred stories regularly on offer for £1.50 each is a really good way to entice new listeners, and more recent listeners who haven't gone back, and one hundred stories takes some listening too!
I will be interesting to see what happens in the future as they cut back further. Maybe the CD's will go or they will 'repackage' downloads like the UNIT and Dalek Empire packages to form 'seasons' of Main Range stories - the Erimem and Hex sagas for example. I imagine keeping the product as accessible as possible is a constant priority.
|
|
|
Post by thewatcher on Mar 23, 2022 20:42:03 GMT
Yes i will be buying less because i gotta cut down on some spending
|
|
|
Post by kipperserver on Mar 23, 2022 20:43:47 GMT
\I dont' think streaming will ever be an optino for Big Finish. You can't stream the Doctor Who blurays or the classic series so I don't think you'll ever be able to stream Big finihs.
|
|
|
Post by thewatcher on Mar 23, 2022 20:50:05 GMT
\I dont' think streaming will ever be an optino for Big Finish. You can't stream the Doctor Who blurays or the classic series so I don't think you'll ever be able to stream Big finihs. you can get some though on stream on spotify that is how i started. maybe more will be added? & you can stream classic doctor who on britbox and all the new ones on bbc iplayer.
|
|
|
Post by kipperserver on Mar 23, 2022 21:21:32 GMT
\I dont' think streaming will ever be an optino for Big Finish. You can't stream the Doctor Who blurays or the classic series so I don't think you'll ever be able to stream Big finihs. you can get some though on stream on spotify that is how i started. maybe more will be added? & you can stream classic doctor who on britbox and all the new ones on bbc iplayer. No, I mean the blurays of the classic series, which are disks. The closest equivalent of the CD. But your right, spotify is the closest. I wonder how much they make out of it and if charging £20 per month instead of having adverrtising around it would actually be successful. Thinking abotu ti, they'd need to start their own Spotify or Netflix servie, because otherwise theh wouldn't make any money out of it, and that must cost lots to set up which is probably what's stiopping them.
|
|
|
Post by kipperserver on Mar 23, 2022 21:22:26 GMT
I don't know if I'd be interested in listening to Big Finish stories with ads every three minutes.
|
|
|
Post by muckypup on Mar 24, 2022 17:34:33 GMT
No plans to buy any more entertainment purchase for rest of 2022. I am so unsure how I am going too make ends meet……
I am so scared, people keep talking about heating or eating, but to be honest struggling to do either…
But even if I could afford too I’m not sure I would
I suspect that big finish will make a loss going forward with budgets squeezed and prices rising…. With the change to boxes, they not even got my pre-orders …… Very hard times ahead……for all
|
|