The final numbers are in for the first half of 2007, and it looks like total DVD sales are down just under 3% from the same time last year. Now 3% isn’t too dastardly a decline. But it is significant since this marks the first time in a decade that sales have declined. Since 1997, the format exploded faster than any previous entertainment formats. The 2005 death throes of VHS caused a brief slowdown of teh growth in DVD, but it still came out ahead.

Analsyts aren’t too concerned for the immediate future of the format though, blaming the small dip on a temporary vacuum of any high profile titles, hoping that the summer blockbusters will spark sales again in the fall months.