DEG: Consumers Spent $1.5 Billion on Blu-ray in 2009 (Update)

Posted January 7, 2010 06:20 AM by Juan Calonge


According to figures released today by the Digital Entertainment Group, spending on Blu-ray sales and rentals was up 67% to 1.5 billion. Homes with Blu-ray Disc players rose to 17 million, up 76% over 2008. In the fourth quarter alone, Blu-ray enjoyed title sales in excess of $500 million, representing 13.4 percent of all sell-through sales versus 8% percent for each of the prior three quarters. Blu-ray new release sales in the fourth quarter rose 17% while catalog title sales doubled from a year ago. Five Blu-ray Disc releases saw sales in excess of one million units in 2009. Sales of Blu-ray Disc playback devices – including set-top box and game consoles – sold through 17.3 million units since launch. Some 4.5 million devices sold in the fourth quarter alone, bringing total units sold to nearly 8 million in calendar 2009, according to numbers compiled by the DEG with input from retail tracking sources. The DEG estimates that more than 71 million HDTV sets have sold to consumers bringing the number of HDTV households to nearly 48 million. The DEG further estimates that 33% of these households have more than one set. An HDTV provides the ideal medium for consumers to enjoy their Blu-ray players and get the best HD experience. "The home entertainment business is doing remarkably well given the overall economic environment," said Ron Sanders, President, DEG and President, Warner Home Video. "We have seen tremendous growth in both Blu-ray hardware and software, consumer transactions are up and we are looking forward to seeing some stabilization in the packaged goods sell-through business in the coming year." "With Blu-ray titles topping $1 billion in sales and Blu-ray hardware now in 17 million U.S. homes, the format is well on its way to mainstream consumer adoption," said Bob Chapek, Chairman, DEG and President, Distribution, The Walt Disney Studios. "With the industry´s recent finalization of 3-D specs, next year promises to be an extraordinary year for consumers to experience the expanded possibilities of Blu-ray." "This was a very good year for Blu-ray," says Ross Rubin of market tracking firm The NPD Group, "but it is going to take a while before the installed base is large enough to match the kind of volume the DVD market can provide." However, overall spending on movie-watching at home dipped 5%, as a result of declining DVD sales. Home video rentals rose more than 4% ($6.5 billion), as sales dropped 13% ($11.4 billion). "People didn't quit consuming movies; they just shifted how they did it," says Tom Adams of Adams Media Research, an entertainment tracking firm. "As with every other product category, people were looking for the best deals they could get," says Adams, including $1 DVD rentals, the fastest-growing segment of movie rentals.
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News comments (17 comments)

tru blu

Jan 07, 2010

Good news. Let's keep buying them.

Mr Shark

Jan 07, 2010

yes please do, fair enough not everyone can afford the transition form DVD to BLU but come on maybe some more variety of blu for those of us who have the gear.

Top reviewer

Everybody who can afford DVD's can also afford Blu Rays since they cost exactly the same or sometimes even less than the 2 Disc DVD Editions. And they players often cost less than $150.. So there really is no reason to spend any money in DVD's anymore..

Top reviewer

Top contributor

Bluyoda

Jan 07, 2010

I agree with Mr. Shark. I am still waiting for loads of titles so see a release date on BD, such as the Star Wars Saga!!!!!!!!!!, THX-1138 Director's cut, American Graffiti, Monty Python- The Meaning of Life, Wallace and Gromit- The Curse of the Were Rabbit, Zoolander, Fun with Dick and Jane (Jim Carrey), Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events (J.Carrey), Out of Towners (Steve Martin, Goldie H.), Dances of The Vampires (Roman Polanski), Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys (Jodie Foster), Odd Couple 1+2, Shopgirl (Steve Martin), What the Bleep? Down the Rabbit Hole, E.T., Rajio No Jikan (Welcome back Mr. McDonald), to name a few. Ha,ha

EvolutionCherry

Jan 07, 2010

I'm with tru blu. The more people buy them, the more they will make(ie. catalog films like Back to the Future, Star Wars..etc), and will also work to making them cheaper sooner.

Top reviewer

mugupo

Jan 07, 2010

If wasn't for piracy, is probably 2-3 billions.

BleedingBlu

Jan 07, 2010

1.5 billion yet Warner Bros needs to delay rentals by a month.

Titanicfave

Jan 07, 2010

Good news as right! Go blu!

The Chosen One

Jan 07, 2010

Well I did my share in supporting the industry. I went from 0 to 31 blu-rays last year.

(plus a bunch of dvd's)
And the beginning of 2010 starts with Repo! The Genetic Opera ariving in a few days.

Furley_Ghost

Jan 07, 2010

I tried to make a separate post for this, but it was deleted for some reason. I think that we should stop buying new releases untill the prices drop back to $19.99 or less. It makes no sense that the prices for huge blockbuster movies were $19.99 and now up to $24.99. I also dislike the fact that new releases drop in price after the first week. Their should be an incentive for buying the movie on the release week, like DVD's. We should remind the studios of what most peoples price point is by extremeley low 1Q sales for 2010.

Top reviewer

Lopan

Jan 07, 2010

I am glad to be a contributor to these numbers.

marzetta7

Jan 07, 2010

Guilty as charged for contributing to this! :-)

Sampinto05

Jan 07, 2010

Guilty as charged; I have spent almost 2000 dollars on my collection and 4000 dollars on my gear but I'm happy. I really wish they start releasing more hongkong martial art titles.

tvine2000

Jan 07, 2010

if you have a hdtv already the move to blu-ray is affordable.players have never been cheapter.the movie s,if you shop the right places you casn get them cheap.amazon always has deals.walmart now has a couple rows of 12.00 blu-rays,two end caps of 10.00 blu-rays.titles like startrek2009 is still 19.96.12.00 titles inclued,id4,day after tomorrow.potc,for 19.96.
if you shop smart and do your homework,blu-ray is very affordable .

tvine2000

Jan 07, 2010

bluyoda,you gonna wait another year for starwars,but theres a lot of great titles on blu-ray and coming to blu this year.furly-ghost,thats not going to happen.your not gonna get people to stop buying blu until prices drop.btw theres lot of blu-ray title at amazon,walmart under 19.00 bucks.you can also go to cheapzon and get titles like dark city for 9.99,north by northwest 12.00.your barking up the wrong tree.

tvine2000

Jan 07, 2010

to all that say blu-ray is not affordable,have you looked at the banner at the top of this page!
please blu-ray boo birds go somewhere else. you living in the past.

phatrat1982

Jan 09, 2010

tvine2000 shut up with the amazon shit ok, you do know there are people who do NOT have amazon as an option so bragging about their prices means nothing to us.