Audio Video News

We know that DVD is hot, but few could have predicted that the video format would become the fastest growing in the history of consumer electronics. The latest statistics reveal that, in 2001, consumer spending on DVD purchases and rental combined were $6 billion, 2.4 times more than the previous year. This represents an increase that put DVD purchases ahead of VHS purchases for the first time, despite an installed player base of 25 million DVD households versus a VCR installed player base of 96 million households.

The DVD Entertainment Group announced these numbers for DVD while noting that, overall, consumers spent a record-breaking $16.8 billion buying and renting movies on video, up 21 percent over 2000, and more than twice what they spent on movie tickets ($8.1 billion).

The numbers also show that strong DVD growth placed home video revenues at nearly three times video game sales ($6.4 billion) and more than music CDs ($11.2 billion) or books ($16.5 billion). The aggregate sales of $16.8 billion for total video sales include $10.9 billion in new release revenues and $5.9 billion in library release revenue.

According to figures compiled by Ernst & Young, approximately 138 million DVD movies and music video titles shipped in the fourth quarter of 2001, 1.8 times more than in the same quarter last year. And more than 364 million units were shipped in 2001, bringing the total number of units shipped since launch to 675 million.

The Entertainment Group notes that DVD is now in one of every four US homes and has reached this level of market success faster than any other consumer electronics product. The latest numbers show that, as DVD completes its fifth year in the market, more than 31 million players have been sold to date, with 16.7 million DVD players sold to consumers in 2001. There are now more than 125 DVD player models marketed under 50 different consumer electronics brands.