Blu-ray "defies recession"

And killing DVD while it's at it

1 July 2009 16:32 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Blu-ray disc sales are rising despite the depression, says the British Video Association, the trade body that represents the interests of publishers and rights owners of video home entertainment.

It's been revealed that more than 3.1 million Blu-ray discs have sold in 2009 to date, a rise of 231% on the same period last year.

The BVA says that this "signifies public interest in the high definition format's unparalleled picture and sound quality".

We say that considering that Blu-ray's next-gen rival HD DVD officially croaked in February 2008, leaving Blu-ray as the only high-def disc format on the market since that time, the rise is not only to be expected, but not particularly impressive.

The BVA suggests that Blu-ray success (as opposed to perhaps downloads, streaming or rental services) has in fact led to the decline of DVD, with SD disc sales down 9.5% year-on-year bringing the total number of discs sold in 2009 to just 100 million (compared, of course, the BD's 3.1).

Full tags

Home Cinema, Blu-ray, DVD, Statistics