While it may be depressing to hear about the slow economy and HDTV manufacturers cutting production of flat-panel TVs, it should be a comfort to hear that Blu-ray is gaining ground with mainstream consumers. Blu-ray is moving out of the "early adoption" hole and into the light.
The fourth quarter, particularly this holiday season, has seen a big
push toward Blu-ray hardware and software. Tru-Blu is a coalition of
companies formed to promote Blu-ray Disc, and consists of companies
such as Disney, Fox, Warner Bros., Panasonic, Sony, and many others.
The coalition has bombarded the masses with $200 million worth of
campaigns. And their efforts have paid off as consumer spending on
Blu-ray materials during the holiday shopping season has set record
marks.
Independent survey companies found that a Blu-ray was at the top of
HDTV-owners' wish list. A second HDTV was also present at the top of
the list. The study also showed that HDTV owners preferred to watch
material on Blu-ray, rather than any other format, including DVD and
streaming media. Unfortunately, we are not so sure about the accuracy
of that study. The majority of mainstream consumers still seem to
prefer DVDs due to their simplicity and quick load times.
Standalone Blu-ray player sales during the week of Thanksgiving
increased by 300 percent over the sales figures from the same time last
year. This sales result does not include the sales of PS3 components.
The increase in player sales naturally increased the amount of Blu-ray
software sold. The month of October yielded more than two million
discs sold – a first for the format. Recent data shows that the week
ending December 6, 2008 resulted in 1.7 million discs sold. That is
nearly 300,000 more units sold than during Black Friday week. On
December 9, "The Dark Knight" was released, and currently has sold 1.7
million units alone. 600,000 alone were sold on the first day. Both
numbers are a first for the format.
Still, Blu-ray sales are weaker than where DVD sales were at the same
age of where Blu-ray is now. Of course, the economy was more affluent
during that time, as well as DVD marked a major transition from analog
VHS tapes to digital DVD discs. Blu-ray simply marks an increase in
audio and video quality (sometimes), which most consumers don't have
the proper setup to take advantage of the format and see no difference
between DVD and Blu-ray due to Blu-ray's slow load times and unstable
system. But kudos to the Blu-ray format for their banner fourth
quarter sales during this economy.
