Tag: comic book market share

I See DC Comics Losing Market Share Right and Left

Oct. 21 Comics, News no comments

I have noticed a disturbing trend among many comic book readers and collectors who are dropping almost everything, or everything, they read from DC Comics. The anger is still resonating in the market at the Villain Month allocation. I have a strong feeling that DC Comics will fall hard in market share for September-October when we see the numbers in a few weeks.

Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1

Trinity of Sin: Pandora #1

My Monthly Pulls

Personally, I have dropped about half of my regular DC Comics pulls. After the disappointment which was Trinity War, I could not hold on for any more issues of Justice League, Justice League America, or Pandora. I was turned off to some titles by the hiatus from the story lines – such as Suicide Squad.

A Positive for the Market

Many of the people who have told me about dropping DC Comics titles are taking the opportunity to try out other titles from other publishers. For the market, this is a good thing. Too often, people will drop titles out of product anger and not pick anything else up. This causes the market to shrink – and that cannot be afforded by the market right now.

Uphill Battle for DC Comics

Right now, I see DC Comics having an uphill battle as they have to win back retailers who were discouraged by the Villain Month Allocation and win back readers who were upset by the titles, the execution, or the hiatus of their regular stories.

Next Month

While I have no clue how far down DC Comics will fall from their big numbers win in the September War, I do see them falling. I would be surprised if Marvel did not take back the top spot, especially with the traction the Battle of the Atom has been getting. DC Comics will still be in second place for market share, but I see the gap shrinking between DC Comics and Image.

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Marvel’s Market Share is Shrinking and Should Not

May. 09 Comic Book Collecting, News no comments

Marvel’s market share is decreasing at an alarming rate. Many sites are talking about how DC Comics has slid under 30% of the market and how Image and IDW are gaining market share each month. I see the bigger story as the loss of Marvel’s market share with what the publishing company is putting out right now and what is being planned for the near future.

Marvel's market share is dropping

Marvel’s market share is dropping

The Numbers

Marvel’s market share (Retail) dropped about 2.1% between March and April and Unit Market Share dropped exactly 2%. In March, Marvel had 7 titles in the Diamond Industry Statistics Top 10 and had 5 in April. With all that Marvel has going on, we should not even be worrying about Marvel’s market share but we should.

What is Going On?

Marvel NOW is still young and there is a strong chance people are beginning to lose interest in the “reorganization of titles which is not a rebooting.” We are in the Age of Ultron and the X titles are building up to a possible all-out war between the X-Men factions. Guardians of the Galaxy started recently as a build-up to the full return of Thanos and their own movie. As I am writing this, Iron Man 3 is the top movie in the world. Strong storylines in The Amazing Spider-Man, New Avengers, and other titles should be bringing in more reads every week.

Why is Marvel Losing?

While it is too early to tell for sure, I believe people are turning away from the Big 2 in droves for various reasons. I have heard readers talk about how they are upset by all of the recent crossovers and drawn-out by the idea of having to pick up twenty extra issues over a few months to finish one storyline. Others find themselves being pulled towards the smaller press titles which are taking off. I have also heard readers say they just need something new and Marvel and DC Comics represent the “old” which these particular readers are tired of.

Looking Back

Of course, if we look back at December 2012, Marvel was holding on to a 33.4% market share, which is lower than the 37.95% they held in April. Marvel should be doing better right now, though, than they are. If Marvel’s market share continues to slip, stress levels will rise as the industry giant falls in the same boat as DC Comics. In business, once market share begins to downward trend, massive changes are made in the offices and in production. I will not speculate on what types of changes, but Marvel needs to get its act together or it will be competing stronger with Image and IDW in the very near future.

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