According to the DEG's (Digital Entertainment Group)
mid-year 2012 home entertainment report, the home
entertainment sector further stabilized in the first half
of 2012, experiencing a 1.43% increase in consumer spending
compared to the first half of 2011.
This stabilization, said the report, was led by a surge in
digital distribution and continuing double-digit increases
in Blu-ray Disc sales, including catalogue product.
In addition to the continued growth of Blu-ray, the
industry experienced remarkable jumps in digital
distribution revenue in the first six months of the year,
driven by electronic sell-through (EST). The growth of EST
is especially noteworthy now as it underscores the
expansion of the UltraViolet cloud-based system introduced
to consumers last year, and also reflects strong consumer
response to the increased availability of EST. The number
of household UltraViolet accounts recently surpassed 4
million.
Among the trends in the first half of the year were:
- Blu-ray Disc sales continued to grow steadily at
double-digital rates with consumer spending for the first
half up 13.3% compared to the same period last year
- Catalogue product on Blu-ray Disc continued its strong
growth, increasing 26% during the same period, which
further cements the notion that Blu-ray has become the
standard in home entertainment
- Digital distribution provided additional growth in the
first half of the year due to a greater consumer response
to EST, which led to a 21.86% increase in EST consumer
spending compared to mid-year 2011, and a 27% increase in
Q2 compared to Q2 2011. Additionally, VOD was up 11.6%
compared to the mid-year 2011, with a 17.2% increase in the
second quarter compared to Q2 2011, showing increasing
consumer demand resulting from wider access and improved
ease of use
- The number of Blu-ray homes continued to rise, with 1.4
million Blu-ray Disc players (inclusive of BD set-tops,
PS3s and HTiBs,) sold in Q2, bringing the total household
penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices to more than
42.1 million US homes
- More than 4.6 million HDTVs were sold to US consumers in
Q2 2012; HDTV penetration to date is nearly 80 million US
households