A new report shows that unlike in the US, Blu-ray Disc movies and players are not becoming a trend internationally.
Screen Digest, based in London, states that of those that purchased a Blu-ray player or Sony PlayStation 3 by the end of 2009, only 1.5 Blu-ray movies were bought . The numbers were partially blamed on the Worldwide Recession and the Euro Austerity Packages . But even with these trends taken into condition, total buying is less than postulateed.
2009 total consumer spending on packaged media fell 2.9% to $17.1 billion.
With people more apt to buy discount DVDs sales of more pricey items like Blu-Rays have fallen in harder hit areas like Europe.
In direct contrast, 2009 gross sales of Blu-ray movies increased 70% in the United States, creating over $1.5 billion in revenue according to The Digital Entertainment Group.
Helen Davis Jayalath, Screen Digest top video analyst stated , “The failure of the Blu-ray format to capture enough of the foreign market in 2009 means this downward trend is now set to continue, with the short-term uplift in video spending that we had previously expect to see in 2010-2011 now unlikely to materialize.”
Screen Digest is forecasting International consumer spending on DVD/Blu-ray movies to slump to $14.5 billion by 2014, an average turn down of 3.5% every 12 months . It also appears to imply that Blu-ray movies will take the brunt of this drop .
“For many people, it seems, DVD remains ‘good enough’ for most titles and the additional cost of opting for a hi-def BD version simply cannot be justified in the current climate of austerity,” the report concluded. The increased presence of discount DVDs puts more pressure on the Blu-Ray market.
The report seemed to downplay data which displayed that the European DVD/Blu-ray market saw a 2.3% overall sales rise to $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2010. It stated that strong local conditions and a strong first quarter offer from Hollywood was foundation to the increase; not a overall strengthening in the sector.
“As long as deep discounting of the standard-definition format by the supermarkets continues, Blu-ray adoption in Europe will continue to be slow because the price differential is simply too large for most consumers to justify in today’s climate of austerity,” Davis Jayalath stated .
