The Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) published its third quarter 2012 Home Entertainment Report.
For more information visit: www.degonline.org
Unedited press release follows:
Overall Consumer Spending Up 1 Percent for the Year
Industry Strengthened by 13% Growth in Blu-ray Disc Sales
Expanding Digital Demand Leads to 38% Surge in EST Spending and 8% Rise in VOD Spending
The third quarter 2012 results mark another quarter characterized by industry steadiness as well as the continuing shift to selling films and TV shows via the digital marketplace and on the superior quality Blu-ray Disc format. In fact, Blu-ray, electronic sell-through (EST), and video-on-demand (VOD) – three of the industry’s highest growth margin areas — all saw material increases in the third quarter. Overall, consumer spending again showed stability, rising 0.24 percent compared to a year earlier.
There were a number of promising trends in the third quarter, demonstrating an ongoing, healthy consumer demand for home entertainment product. Notable highlights from the report:
• Consumers are embracing the expansion of digital products and services. UltraViolet registrations have surpassed six million. UltraViolet continues rolling out to other countries, with Canada scheduled in the fourth quarter.
• Underscoring the popularity of digital product with consumers, EST rose an impressive 37.7 percent increase in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.
• Likewise, Video-on-Demand spending climbed more than 8.4 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2011.
• In physical media, Blu-ray Disc continued its steady gains with spending up close to 13 percent in the quarter compared to Q3 2011.
• Sales of Catalog titles on Blu-ray Disc grew 22 percent in Q3 from a year earlier. In fact, sales of catalog titles on Blu-ray have shown impressive gains every quarter in 2012, continuing the trend set in 2011, when sales were up 20 percent, underscoring how consumers have embraced Blu-ray as the standard for quality movie viewing in the home.
• To that end, the infrastructure of Blu-ray homes continues to climb, with 2.8 million Blu-ray Disc players (including BD set-tops, PS3s and HTiBs) sold in the third quarter, up 5 percent from a year earlier. Total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices now stands at close to 50 million U.S. homes.
• Accompanying the embrace by consumers of digital and Blu-ray movie viewing has been the upgrade of their home viewing experience better picture and sound quality. In the third quarter, 7.8 million HDTVs were sold to U.S. consumers. HDTV penetration to date is now at more than 101 million U.S. households.
