Blu-ray sales to hit 100 million in 2009

Consumers will buy 100 million Blu-ray discs across the USA, Western Europe and Japan in 2009, according to research from Futuresource Consulting.

"In the USA, BD has moved from early adopter phase through to early majority, with the format gaining real traction in the marketplace", says Mai Hoang, senior market analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

"Last year in the US alone, BD video retail sales increased by a whopping 320% to 24 million units and we're going to see momentum continuing in 2009, with over 80 million disc sales forecast".

Sales in the UK are expected to remain healthy too, despite the economic downturn with the UK named as the largest market for BD in Western Europe.

Hoang says: "With sales of more than 3.5 million units in 2008, it represented over 40% of the West European total".