July 31, 2010

An examination of the evolution of worldwide home entertainment transactions over the past 30 years shows some clear trends. The fi rst 10 years of home video were characterised by rapid growth, driven by VHS rental. In its second decade VHS reached maturity and the global market plateaued for the first time at around 6.6bn transactions a year. The third decade began on a high note, thanks to the rapid growth of DVD retail and rental, but by 2002 total volumes had again reached a plateau (at around 7.8bn). The slow but steady decline in volumes of the late 2000s steepened in 2009 as digital and Blu-ray Disc (BD) proved unable to fill the gap left by the mature DVD format. However, Screen Digest's current forecasts indicate that the downward trend could be reversed this year.

Chart summary: Total world video transactions peaked at 7.83bn in 2002. Thereafter, strong DVD growth only just managed to compensate for the decline in the VHS business. The DVD format also reached a transactional plateau in most mature markets around 2007.

Tables and charts included:

• Worldwide transactional home entertainment 1981-2010
• Global home entertainment transactions 2009

Pages: 4

Tables & charts: 2

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