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Spending On Digital Video Streaming, Downloads Passes Discs

Digital Entertainment Group finds reversal from 2014’s home-video spending results

Consumer are spending more on digital video downloads and video streaming than they are on purchasing and renting physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs, statistics from the Digital Entertainment Group show.

During the first nine months of the year, consumers spent $6.44 billion on downloading and streaming video, compared with $6.29 billion spent on buying and renting discs. In 2014, in contrast, consumers spent more on physical media, about $6.93 billion, compared with $7.53 billion spent on digital downloads and streaming, DEG statistics show.

Digital includes downloads, subscription streaming and video on demand, which consists of on-demand streaming via cable, satellite or the Internet.

DEG found that revenues from physical-media purchases and rentals fell during the nine-month period, while digital revenues grew, yielding a mere 0.37 percent gain in combined home-entertainment spending to $12.73 billion.

Nine-month consumer spending on digital downloads and streams rose 15.8 percent to $6.44 billion, while disc purchases fell 14.2 percent to $3.94 billion. Revenues from disc rentals fell 7.1 percent to $2.35 billion.

Within the digital category, sales of purchased downloads grew 18.7 percent to $1.34 billion, while subscription- streaming revenues gained 24.2 percent to $3.65 billion. VOD revenues slipped 3.5 percent to $1.41 billion.

In other findings, DEG said:
• U.S. sales of 4K Ultra HD TVs rose 494 percent in the third quarter, with almost 2 million sold for the year to date, bringing the number of Ultra HD TV households to 2.8 million.
• The number of HD TV households rose to more than 96 million, and almost 80 million households own Blu-ray playback devices.
• Worldwide, adoption of UltraViolet technology continues to grow in the U.S. and 12 additional territories. Almost 25 million households worldwide have a UV account, with more than 150 million movies and TV shows owned in the households’ UV libraries.

UltraViolet technology was developed to let consumers stream or download content on their purchased DVD or Blu-ray discs to multiple devices, including TVs, personal computers, tablets and mobile phones.

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