Blu-ray Outpacing DVD in Western Europe

Futuresource (resulting company of the merger between Understanding & Solutions and DTC) have announced that, according to their analysis, in Western Europe, Blu-ray player sales during the first three years of the format have outpaced DVD player sales during its first three years. This trend is predicted to continue through 2011, or the sixth year of the Blu-ray format.



Jim Bottoms, MD Corporate Development, Futuresource commented, "One of the questions we are asked on a regular basis is how does Blu-ray (BD) uptake compare with the uptake of DVD in the early years, and how do the BD player forecasts look alongside DVD player adoption. Focusing on like-for-like coverage of Western Europe and comparing the first few years of uptake, the early indications are that BD player sales are running way ahead of DVD after the same time period."

The caveat to consider while digesting this information is that Futuresource has included sales of all PlayStation 3 consoles as Blu-ray players. To offset this, they have also included all PlayStation 2 console sales as DVD players, but those didn't come to Europe until after the DVD format was a few years in to its lifespan.

Regardless, for a region of the planet with less HDTV adoption than the US, it is encouraging to see Blu-ray adoption so strong.