DEG: $1 Billion in Blu-ray Sales in Q1-Q3, up 80% Year-on-year
Posted October 22, 2010 03:14 AM by Juan Calonge
According to figures released yesterday by DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, consumer purchases of Blu-ray Disc software reached $1 billion by September 30. Sales increased 80% over the same period of 2009. Hardware sales also continued to climb, with over 3 million standalone BD players sold in the first nine months of the year- a YoY increase of 104%. This brings the total installed base of Blu-ray playback devices in the U.S. to 21.1 million units.
BD sellthrough is the fastest-growing category in the home entertainment industry, with over twice as much revenue and growth as electronic sales.
Disc media purchases (DVD and Blu-ray combined) dropped 8%, to $6.5 billion. Disc rentals also dropped by 4.4%, to $4.4 billion.
Overall, home entertainment spending was around $12.6 billion, down 4% from last year. However, consumer purchases of new theatrical releases were up 4%.
DEG president Ron Sanders (also president of Warner Home Video), commented: "While we continue to encounter tough market conditions, there are a number of positive trends emerging, particularly in some of the industry's key growth areas." Sanders singled out Blu-ray as a product that "continues to show strong growth in every category."