Blu-ray boosts US home entertainment spending
May 1, 2012
Findings from the US’s Digital Entertainment Group’s First Quarter 2012 Home Entertainment Report indicate a continued stabilisation of the industry, underscored by promising gains in Blu-ray Disc, with steady increases in electronic sell-through (EST) and VoD spending, and modest growth in sell-through.
Overall consumer spending was up 2.5 per cent compared to the first quarter last year, driven by a healthy consumer appetite for Blu-ray. Blu-ray Disc saw continued double digit growth (up 23 per cent) in sales over first quarter 2011. Indeed, Blu-ray Disc now accounts for one out of four of all of the physical sell-through dollars spent by consumers compared to less than 15 per cent two years ago. The progress in Blu-ray Disc sales is even more significant when viewed as growth off an ever-increasing base.
Highlights for the first quarter include:
- Blu-ray Disc and EST continued their steady gains with consumer spending on Blu-ray jumping 23 per cent and EST up 17 per cent compared to the same period last year.
- Physical sell-through of theatrical product was up two per cent for the quarter, while catalogue sales on Blu-ray Disc were up 27 per cent, and TV on Blu-ray sales were up 54 per cent, underscoring that Blu-ray Disc is the standard for quality home entertainment.
- With most major studios backing UltraViolet, and with the support of major retailers, consumers have embraced UltraViolet’s flexibility and value of ownership by opening nearly two million UltraViolet accounts to access and enjoy their movies and TV shows in the cloud.
- The number of Blu-ray homes continues to climb, with 2.4 million players sold in the first quarter (including BD set-tops, PS3s and HTiBs [home theatre in a box]). Total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices now stands at more than 40.8 million US homes.
- In addition, 6.5 million HDTVs were sold to US consumers in the first quarter 2012. HDTV penetration to date is now at more than 77.6 million US households.