According to research from US-based Home Media Magazine, US Blu-ray disc sales jumped 351 percent in the first three months of this year.

The high-def disc format benefited from increased awareness of the category and Toshiba's decision to exit the HD DVD business at the end of March. Sounding an optimistic note for the Home Entertainment industry, Home Media reports that the rise in Blu-ray Disc sales led to the first increase in consumer spending on home video in two years. In 2007, total sales fell 0.5 percent and they decreased 0.4 percent in 2006.

However, the magazine writes that consumer spending was up one percent in the first three months of 2008, totaling $5.51 billion, compared to the first three months of 2007. Sales rose 2.3 percent while rental spending fell 1.6 percent.

The rise in Blu-ray sales explains why the Hollywood film studios are actively promoting Blu-ray Disc since many executives believe it can help revitalize the dormant DVD industry. Home Media writes that I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, was the number one selling title. Enchanted was second, followed by American Gangster, Bee Movie and 3:10 to Yuma.

In other States-side news, it is predicted that Blu-ray players will be in roughly 25 percent of U.S. homes in three years. That's according to a new report from Bernstein Research analyst Michael Nathanson, as reported by Reuters. Nathanson says Blu-ray players will be in approximately one percent of U.S. households at the end of this year, suggesting the high-def disc format will experience a boom over the next three years.

To help fuel that growth, the analyst estimates that the average price of a Blu-ray disc will drop from $28.50 this year to $24.43 in 2011. He says overall Blu-ray revenue will jump from $260 million this year to $4.24 billion in
2011.

Thanks to Blu-ray Disc, Nathanson believes that the home video industry might net a 2.4 percent annual growth rate in revenue over the next three years. Without Blu-ray, he says, the industry would have lost 2.2 percent each year.

Nathanson's report says there were about 3.5 million Blu-ray players in U.S. homes at the end of 2007, including Playstation3 consoles. He predicts that a sudden rise in Blu-ray sales will occur when the player price drops from around $399 to under $200, probably not until next year.

This infomation was published by the:
Blu-ray Disc Association