Audio Video News

Spending on home entertainment products is up about 4 percent over the same period in 2015, according to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG).

The public continued to embrace 4K/Ultra HD (UHD) TVs, buying 9.9 million 4K sets so far this year, and interest in Blu-ray remains strong.

The DEG said sales of movies and TV shows on Blu-ray Disc are up about 8 percent year to date, compared with the same period last year. Sales of UHD Blu-ray titles, in particular, are described as “robust” with the number of available 4K discs now totaling 72.

Despite the increase in disc sales, consumers continue to move toward digital purchases. Year-to-date sales of digital media increased 7.5 percent over 2015 while sales of packaged media slipped 7 percent during the same period.

Video-on-demand (VOD) platforms and streaming continue to grow, with subscription streaming registering an impressive year-to-date gain of 21 percent; VOD is up 6.5 percent during the same period.

Total U.S. home entertainment spending for the third quarter (July-September) was $4.1 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to more than $13 billion. The DEG estimates that 85 percent of all U.S. homes (104.5 million households) now have at least one HDTV.