Interest in Blu-Ray Remains Lukewarm in USA

Americans are not jumping on board with any of the high definition DVD players, according to a recent survey commissioned by Harris Interactive.

Just one in ten Americans (11 percent) own a HD DVD player while 7 percent own a Blu-ray player. Looking at the other devices for playing HD DVDs, 9 percent own a Sony Playstation3 (which plays Blu-ray) and 3 percent have the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360 (which plays HD DVDs).

The group noted further that while slow to catch on, ownership of all these high definition disc players is up from May 2008. Interestingly, while Blu-ray was the ‘format war’ winner over HD DVD, sales of HD DVD players (11 percent in 2009 vs. 6 percent in 2008) are up over 2008 by about the same margin as Blu-ray players (7 percent in 2009 vs. 4 percent in 2008). Both were rivaled by the Sony Playstation3 (9 percent vs. 5 percent). However, only 3 percent purchased the external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, up from 1 percent in 2008. There is no expected surge of interest pending – only 7 percent of non-Blu-ray player owners report a likely purchase of a Blu-ray disc player within the next year, down from 9 percent in May 2008

Looking at HD television sets, almost half of consumers now report owning a high definition television (47 percent), up decidedly from May of 2008 (35 percent). HDTV ownership rises with household income (27 percent for those with less than $35K vs. 62 percent among those with more than $75K).

When Blu-ray player or PS3 owners are asked specifically about standard versus Blu-ray format purchases, the results suggest a mixed bag of behaviors with some price sensitivity indicated:

• Only one quarter plan to switch to Blu-ray completely (25 percent), while one third of Blu-ray or PS3 owners claim that most of their movie purchases are now on Blu-ray format (32 percent);
• Two in five are waiting for Blu-ray format prices to come down before they buy more (43 percent) – and a quarter buy Blu-ray regardless of price (25 percent); and,
• Only 1 in 5 appear to be replacing or duplicating their existing standard format DVD library with Blu-ray format (21 percent), and over a third say they only buy movies on Blu-ray format that they currently do not own on standard definition (37 percent).

In addition to financial issues that may be slowing consumer adoption, Milton Ellis, VP and Senior Consultant, Harris Interactive Technology, Media, and Telecom Practice said: "Blu-ray also faces competition from alternative technologies such as cable, satellite, and the Internet. Consumers can watch HD TV channels or use the Internet or video-on-demand to access high definition movies. In the near future, access to high definition movies may be a download or streaming delivery of one’s favorite movies to a home media server that eliminates the need for a Blu-ray player and Blu-ray disc. One thing is for sure, the market will be highly competitive and consumers will have a variety of choices for their entertainment experience."

This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between April 13 and 21, among 2,401 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online, the company noted in a release.