Andre Yoskowitz
24 Feb 2009 2:17
According to the analyst firm Futuresource Consulting, Blu-ray disc sales will jump to over 100 million next year, worldwide, thanks to the expected reductions in Blu-ray player prices and the continued market growth of HDTVs.
"In the USA, Blu-ray has moved from early adopter phase through to early majority, with the format gaining real traction in the marketplace," added Mai Hoang, senior market analyst at Futuresource.
"Last year in the US alone, Blu-ray video retail sales increased by a whopping 320 per cent to 24 million units; and we're going to see momentum continuing in 2009, with over 80 million disc sales forecast."
"The UK is the largest market for Blu-ray discs in Western Europe," Hoang continued. "With sales of more than 3.5 million units in 2008, it represented over 40 per cent of the West European total."
Jim Bottoms, managing director at Futuresource, continued: "Blu-ray disc sales continue to expand into all major markets and genres."
"Although to date the business has gravitated towards new release titles. In particular, the action adventure genre dominates, appealing strongly to the young male technology adopter, which also closely matches the PlayStation 3 owner profile."
"By 2012, around 50 per cent of US and 35 per cent of Western European video disc retail sale volumes will be Blu-ray."