End of year figures released by the British Video Association for 2008 revealed that 3.7m Blu-ray discs were sold during the year, with 1.5m going through the tills in December alone. The best-selling Blu-ray title of 2008 was Dark Knight, which moved 281,000 units. But those rushing to kill off DVD as a format will no doubt be surprised to hear that 2008’s best-selling title sold 3.1m units in its first week on sale, and an astonishing 5.1m copies by the end of the year, according to The Official Charts Company.
Screen Digest is predicting that 241m mainstream DVDs will be sold in the UK during 2009, slightly down on 2008’s 252.9m units, while Blu-ray sales are expected to rise to 17m, giving the next-gen format around 7% market share.
Helen Davis Jayalath, Head of Video at Screen Digest, commented: “DVD volume sales outpaced those of 2007 for much of the year in spite of the impending recession; even when faced with major supply chain issues in December [following the collapse of Woolworths and its distribution sister company, Entertainment UK], consumers simply bought the titles they wanted elsewhere. Although the economic climate means that Blu-ray will now take longer to achieve mass market status, demand is building for the Hi-Def discs.”
