Blu-Ray Gains Market Share As Disc Sales Grew Over Xmas

According to recently published data, increased demand for Blu-Ray technology has contributed to impressive growth of physical disc sales in the UK over the Christmas period. When Blu-Ray technology was first launched, take up was very slow, as British consumers failed to embrace the new technology as quickly as they did with DVD when the latter first came out.

Blu-ray disc
Blu-ray gains market share as disc sales grew over Xmas

However, the cost of Blu-Ray movies has been dropping over the years, and with consumers now eager to enjoy high-definition viewing experience on their HDTV sets, the market share of Blu-Ray has been growing. Of course, this has also led to an increase in the sales of Blu-Ray discs, with some growth being seen over the past year, and a surge being experienced over the Christmas period.

Figures showed that growth in the value of Blu-Ray was up 26.9 percent last month, and over the course of last year physical disc sales increased by 18.4 percent year on year, reaching 13 percent of all physical disc sales. Volume sales for Blu-Ray experienced an increase of 31.1 percent in December, of which 5 percent were 3D Blu-Ray discs.

DVD sales also enjoyed healthy growth in the run up to Christmas, with volume sales rising by 6 percent and reaching sales levels of more than 43 million units over the month of December. The variety of new titles that were released on disc ready for the Christmas rush helped to fuel the spike in disc sales, enabling the industry to enjoy a successful end to the year.

The figures were released by the British Video Association, and a spokesperson from the organisation said that the data is very positive. He stated that whilst the economic and financial climate is tough for many people, it is encouraging to see consumers continue to spend money on high quality home entertainment.

2 comments

  1. hard to believe that in HD era people are still watching DVD… well, i bet there are also loads of people who still enjoys VHS format.
    What a point of having new HD panel if watching DVD???

  2. @arch lots of people still do watch DVDs on HD TVs and will continue to do so for quite some time. Personally I still watch and buy DVDs – the upscaled picture quality with my Sony BD player is good- no its not as good as BD but still perfectly acceptable. Why am I still watching DVD? because BD discs are still incredibly overpriced in the main and all the extra bumph bundled with them is of little use to me – I want to watch the film not interact with it. I refuse point blank to pay £20+ for a new release as I only have a modest income.
    I DO buy BDs but only when they have come down to near DVD prices.