What We Tell Our Clients About Blu-ray

Periodically we are asked by a client to brief them about the state of the home entertainment marketplace. It’s interesting to look back at these research efforts to see if the reality matches up with industry projections. Case in point: One such project in January, 2011 which we completed for a major studio considering an increase in the number of TV series and seasons released on Blu-ray delved into the size of the Blu-ray-capable audienc in market segments other than first adopters and techies. Our research reported that that Blu-ray players were, at the time, “…in 27.5 million U.S. homes, according to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG)…, and while this is approximately 20% of households in the United States, it is also nearly 50% of households who have HD TVs. Consumers used to high definition televised content are seeking out the high audio and visual quality offered by Blu-ray technology.”

Compare this data to the numbers which the DEG recently announced (July 29, 2012) which reported an updated estimate of the number of Blu-ray players in American homes: “…with 1.4 million Blu-ray Disc players (inclusive of BD set-tops, PS3s and HTiBs,) sold in the second quarter[2Q’12 – Editor], bringing the total household penetration of all Blu-ray compatible devices to more than 42.1 million U.S. homes…”, a 50% increase in 18 months. With the benefit of hindsight, the prediction that US consumers would bring Blu-ray purchases levels to between 32-35 million players in 2011 turned out to be true and the additional six months subsequent to that milestone added another 7.1 million players. Based on this rate, it shouldn’t be much of a stretch to see 50 million players in the US by the critical 2012 holiday shopping season, representing a whole market penetration rate of approximately 40%. With more and more homes equipped HD TVs, some 80 million according to the July 29th DEG report, the proportion of HD TV households with Blu-ray players would be in the 60-65% range. Good news indeed for studios, distributors and filmmakers looking to deliver HD content to an increasingly tech-savvy consumer.