France: Blu-ray Disc Sales Increase over 200%

The Centre National de la Cinématographie has published sales figures for the home video market in France during the first quarter of 2009. They show that 1.08 million units of BD movies were sold in that period, up 211.8% from the same period last year. Revenue increased 165.9%, for 24.04 million euros.

Overall 34 million BD and DVD units were sold (up 9.0% from last year), whereas total revenue was 334.25 million euros (down 5.4% from the 2008 figures).

Blu-ray still represents a small, yet growing piece of the disc market: BD sales amounted to about 3.2% of unit volume, and 7.2% of revenue. Overall, market share has increased threefold in one year.

Those figures derive from sales data obtained at large brick-and-mortar retailers and bookshops, as well as mail-order and Internet sales. They have been compiled by market research institution Gfk.