By End of 2012, Sales of Blu-ray Discs Will Surpass Those of DVDs

In the U.S., the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) has released its 2008 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry ($55).

According to the EMA, by the end of 2012, sales of Blu-ray Discs will surpass those of standard definition DVDs, generating sales of a whopping $9.5 billion. Home video spending on the whole has been projected to grow exponentially to $25.6 billion in 2012.

Even in light of a small decrease in overall consumer spending on DVD, the approximately $24 billion home video market continued to be the largest segment of consumer movie spending by far, accounting for 49% of all consumer movie spending in 2007. In the video game market, game software sales increased 34% in 2007, to a total of $8.6 billion. These and other noteworthy findings gathered from a variety of authoritative sources are included in the 2008 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry, released by the EMA.

"Consumers remain enamoured with DVD and video games even as they incorporate new forms of entertainment media into their consumption patterns," noted Bo Andersen, President and CEO of EMA. "New generations of hardware and software, and alternative delivery channels, will ensure that home video and video games remain phenomenally popular entertainment options for the American public for years to come."

Other interesting facts about the US market contained in the report:

• Home video generated $15.9 billion in sales and $8.2 billion in rentals in 2007.
• Nearly 9 million High Definition discs were sold in 2007, for which consumers spent more than $260 million.
• There were 12,177 DVDs released in 2007, down from a peak of 13,950 in 2005.
• It is estimated that, in 2012, sales of Blu-ray Discs will exceed those of standard DVDs and will generate sales of $9.5 billion.
• Home video spending is projected to increase to $25.6 billion in 2012.
• Traditional rental stores, dominated by Blockbuster, accounted for 73% of the rental business in 2007. Online subscription rental (such as Netflix and Blockbuster’s Total Access) were 25% of the market. Kiosk rental doubled its market share to 2%.

The 2008 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry provides comprehensive data on and analysis of sales and rentals of DVDs, Blu-Ray Discs, video on demand, computer and console video games, and competing technologies.