Audio Video News

Driven by double digit growth in key digital categories, U.S. consumer spending on home entertainment nudged up in the third quarter of 2015 to $3.9 billion and is up 0.2 percent year over year, according the Digital Entertainment Group quarterly report.

Among the highlights of the report, sales of 4K Ultra HD TVs were up 494 percent for the third quarter with 2 million sets sold year to date. The DEG reports that 2.8 million U.S. households now have a UHD TV, a small but rapidly growing percentage of the more than 96 million HDTV households and 80 million Blu-ray households.

Other highlights:

• Year-to-date home entertainment spending reached $13 billion and was on par for the same period 2014 while outpacing box office video release by about 6 percent.

• Consumers continued to embrace the convenience and accessibility of purchasing and collecting digital content. Overall electronic sell-through was up 19 percent year to date and 14 percent for the quarter when compared with the same period last year.

• Subscription video streaming also experienced steady growth, enjoying a 23 percent rise in the third quarter over the same period last year.

• UltraViolet continues to grow in the U.S. and 12 additional territories. Worldwide, there are now some 25 million household UV accounts with UV libraries containing more than 150 million movies and TV shows.