Blu-ray Player Sales Rose 72% in Q1 '09

According to the March update of The NPD Group's retail tracking report, sales of standalone BD players (not including PS3 consoles) in the USA during the first quarter of 2009 increased 72 percent over the same period in 2008. Additionally, consumer surveys showed increased awareness and intention to buy. During the quarter, over 400,000 standalone players were sold in the USA, for dollar sales of $107.2 million. The average selling price of a standalone BD player fell nearly 34 percent from $393 dollars in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009, the report shows. The March update to the Blu-ray Report also showed that overall U.S. consumer awareness of the BD format hit the 90 percent mark in the past six months. Purchase intent for Blu-ray set-top boxes also rose slightly in recent tracking surveys, with 6 percent of respondents saying they would be "extremely or very likely" to buy in the next six months, compared with 5 percent who responded similarly in the August 2008 report. Ross Rubin, industry analysis director at NPD, noted that rising penetration of HDTVs and lower BD player prices "are broadening the format's market opportunity." He added that, despite the expansion of options for accessing movies digitally, "Blu-ray is carrying forward the widespread appeal of DVD into the high-definition marketplace." Still, Rubin stressed the need for more promotion of the format. Currently, leading driver of Blu-ray purchase intent is "recommendations from friends, family or co-workers," whose demonstrations of the technology "are selling the benefits in a way that is far more effective than simply viewing an advertisement or seeing it demonstrated at a retail store." NPD also observed that "recent BD player buyers report being influenced most often by pricing, promotions, and sales." For example, consumers who claimed that they are likely to buy in the next six months expect to pay $214 on average, NPD said.
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Blu Titan  » May 06, 2009
Thanks for the great update Juan. A significant feat when you consider the economic climate in Q1!

SellmeyourDVD  » May 06, 2009
I'm more interested to see what is going to happen when the player prices drop below $100 this holiday season, but this is still good news

Mr. Cinema  » May 06, 2009
Solid Q1 number.

garlad  » May 06, 2009
The second last paragraph is very accurate. I have demo'd the ps3 to friends who have gone on to buy. Only this week a friend came to my house and I showed him the last 20 mins of Transformers. He was blown away. And is buying a player this weekend

Y3k Bug  » May 06, 2009
We still have a long way to go, but those are some great numbers all things considered.

tru blu  » May 06, 2009
Excellent. Keep going Blu everyone.

Scooby Blu  » May 06, 2009

"recommendations from friends, family or co-workers," whose demonstrations of the technology "are selling the benefits in a way that is far more effective than simply viewing an advertisement or seeing it demonstrated at a retail store." That right there means us ! Congrats to all our members for OUR great job on promoting this format !!!!!! Digital downloads ??? Was that the cry of the HD-DUD fanboys ??? That blu ray would fall??? Well, now the numbers tell a different story dont they ??? YES !

Sonny  » May 06, 2009
Great news!!! And it will only get better!!!

edelgiud  » May 06, 2009

More and more people that I show blu-ray too are getting addicted to the image and are starting to move to blu-ray now. It is good news from these figures. Unfortunately, it has to be the people that are making enough to not be affected by the economy that are buying the blu-ray since the prices have not gone down at all yet. I mean $32 CDN for Quantum of Solace or The Wrestler is not a deal. DVDs are going for $22 CDN and for older movies as low as $7....

BD4Life  » May 06, 2009
Player prices should continue to drop below $199.99 for a full feature player. There is no doubt in my mind that this holiday season, BD players will get cheaper, but MSRP is still pretty high, and disc prices are still rediculous. Once BD movies (Library and New Releases) are a certain prices, I am sure people won't have a problem moving to BD.

cvm  » May 06, 2009
I love this kind of news

gradymay  » May 06, 2009
That is great news, I am ready for prices to drop so I can outfit every TV in the house with Blu.

H-BOMB  » May 06, 2009
That is pretty good news but I agree with edelgiud, prices for the Blu-ray disc need to drastically come down. I paid $29.99 for Sin City at Best Buy and the only reason I did is because the movie is on my most wanted list. I think all of us need to stress this point when posting comments.

Rainman208  » May 06, 2009
Yeah baby........yeah !!!

Jmobie  » May 06, 2009
Great news. I am hoping to bring one of my friends up to our summer home next week where our Blu-ray player awaits. He's never seen Blu yet, so I'm excited to spread the word.

Itsmeshane  » May 06, 2009
I bought a standalone in q1.

thedarkangel1975  » May 06, 2009

For Blu to take off, the prices of the discs need to drop. Catalog titles should be no more then 14-15 dollars (unless it is some special edition) and New releases need to be no more then 22 dollars. I know the Star Wars Trilogy, LOTR, Back to The Future, Jurassic Park will be slightly higher because of the demand these discs command, but they can have great bargins like They did the Dark Knight. It is not hard to figure out.

Cap Nord  » May 06, 2009
I've had a PS 3 since it came out and while the news that the players are selling well is good, there's no justification for new Blu Ray releases to be still selling for $30 plus If these new releases don't soon drop to at least $25, then sales of the players will stall regardless of the quality.

Tezs  » May 06, 2009

I think a QUALITY full featured player, might hit $150 this holiday season, but those holding out for a decent full featured player to go below $100 are expecting way too much for this year.We might see the off brand name Chinese knock-off players go for around that price point, but those that expect those players to produce and/or include the quality of the real brand name players are going to be very disappointed.We also will see $15 catalog titles but new release are not ever likely to go below around $22-23, sorry folks, it's not going to happen with new releases for below that price, unless they are direct to video, cheaply made flicks. People need to remeber, you get what you pay for and being penny wise and dollar foolish when it comes to buying a Bluray player is only going to make the buyer sorry that they wasted what little money they did. They'll likely be even sorrier that they wouldn't part with the extra $20-$30 for something that would not only given them peace of mind, but a simliar expirience to that those with decent home theater setups are expiriencing.

matte-merge  » May 06, 2009

Yes i agree the prices of the discs are still way to high but another thing that bothers me is the quality of some of the artwork inserts I have seen to many movies with ink spots, discoloration, black specs that make the movie look cheap but because it's blu-ray it carries a heavy price tag. I buy a movie because of the movie but when we pay this much for one shouldn't the artwork look professional as well! Most people might not care but as a collector it is very irratating!!!

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