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.
