CES 2016: SVOD, EST Push Home Entertainment Spending Up 1% in 2015

Complete Coverage: CES 2016

Total spending on home entertainment—a large category including physical discs, downloads and SVOD—ticked up 1% in 2015 to reach $18.1 billion, according to an annual report issued today by the Digital Entertainment Group.

Released as CES kicks off in Las Vegas, the report shows a continued free-fall for DVD and Blu-ray discs, with packaged goods revenue slumping 12% to $6.1 billion. But overall electronic sell-through, or EST, sales soared 18% to hit $1.9 billion and SVOD jumped 25% to $5.1 billion. And even within the beleaguered physical disc category, Blu-ray disc sales rose 8% in the fourth quarter, corresponding with strength in movie box office receipts. “The strength of the premium experience bodes well for the introduction of Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2016,” the report asserted.

UltraViolet, the digital content system endorsed by the DEG, a consortium of several dozen studios and independent distributors and retailers, showed growth in 2015. The number of accounts grew nearly 20% to exceed 20%.

In other DEG statistics directly relevant to the vast halls of CES:

·         HDTV penetration is now at more than 114 million U.S. households.

·         All Blu-ray playback devices (including set-tops and game consoles) are at 104 million U.S. households. 

·         Consumer sales of 4K UHD TVs shot up 287% in the fourth quarter, with overall penetration reaching more than five million U.S. households.