The third quarter was kinder to the home entertainment industry in 2009, as Blu-ray Disc sales and rentals increased 6.6%, with customers spending $161 million on content.
In the quarter that ended Sept. 30, Blu-ray sales were up 66.3% over the same period one year ago, according to numbers compiled by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG). In the first nine months of 2009, sales are up to $568 million -- up a whopping 83% than the first three quarters of 2008.
Joining Blu-ray movie sales, the rental kiosk industry also saw success, with Home Video Essentials research indicating the industry grew 9.9% up to $1.6 billion during Q3. To date, more than $5 billion has been spent on DVD and Blu-ray rentals in 2009, which is an 8.2% increase over the first nine months of last year.
The rental kiosk industry is expected to continue to grow, but it will be interesting to see how Redbox and other kiosk operators will handle licensing agreements with movie studios. Redbox has had issues with several studios -- who feel they're being undercut -- and the issue continues to become even more complicated.
In the third quarter, electronic and video-on-demand digital movie distribution was valued at $420 million, an 18% increase compared to last year.
Although the home entertainment industry continues to suffer, especially due to a lack of original content being pumped by Hollywood, it should be comforting when they note the growing demand for Blu-ray and other content.
I'm especially interested to see how digital distribution continues to mature, as even more consumers are able to watch content on their mobile phones, notebooks, and in the living room using the Microsoft Xbox 360, Roku Netflix player, and several standalone Blu-ray players.
