Los Angeles - The digital home entertainment industry saw further stabilization in the first quarter of 2012 with signs of significant growth ahead for the Blu-ray Disc segment, according to findings from the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG).

The first-quarter results, as reported by the video home entertainment industry promotion group, were said to have been buoyed by steady increases in electronic sell-through (EST) and video-on-demand (VOD) spending, with modest growth seen in sell-through.

Overall consumer spending rose 2.5 percent compared with the first quarter last year, with a significant portion of revenue coming from Blu-ray sales.

Blu-ray Disc saw a 23 percent increase in sales over first quarter 2011, and now accounts for 25 percent of all consumer pre-recorded video sell-through revenue, up from less than 15 percent two years ago.

Highlights for the first quarter include:

• Electronic sell-through revenue was up 17 percent compared with the same period last year.

• Physical sell-through of theatrical product was up 2 percent for the quarter, while catalog sales on Blu-ray Disc were up 27 percent, and TV on Blu-ray sales were up 54 percent.

• Nearly 2 million UltraViolet accounts have now been created to help consumers access and view purchased movie and TV show content from the cloud.

• The number of Blu-ray homes increased with the addition of 2.4 million players in the first quarter (including BD set-tops, PlayStation3s and HTiBs). Total household penetration of all Blu-ray-compatible devices now stands at more than 40.8 million U.S. homes, the DEG said.

• Another 6.5 million HDTVs were sold to U.S. consumers in the first quarter of 2012, raising the U.S. HDTV household penetration rate to more than 77.6 million U.S. households.