Q1 Blu-ray up 69% year-on-year

Surging sales of high-definition Blu-ray discs have seen the value of the UK home video market surge by 10 per cent year-on-year for the first quarter of 2010.

March growth is up by 31 per cent year-on-year.

In the period Blu-ray sales hit 2.7m units, a 69 per cent annual increase in unit terms. Its market value was up 50 per cent.

Total Blu-ray disc sales in the UK now stand at 15.6m. Blu-ray now accounts for around 20 per cent of any given title’s total sales.

Best-selling Blu-ray performers included The Hurt Locker (24 per cent of its sales were on Blu-ray), 2012 (20 per cent) and Up (17 per cent).

Strong performers in other sectors included Fox Entertainment’s DVD release Quantum of Solace and Michael Jackson documentary This Is It, which drove up sales of music DVDs by 42 per cent year-on-year. Kids movies were up 38 per cent, thanks in part to impressive sales of Disney’s Up.

While it is fantastic to see such strong growth in market volumes in the run up to Easter, the performance of Blu-ray is especially impressive,” the British Video Association’s marketing manager Hannah Conduct stated.

Growing sales show that the benefits of the format – higher picture quality, superior sound, and an ever-expanding range of titles – are better understood than ever before. The strong sales reflect consumer confidence in Blu-ray.”

Here’s the Q1 Blu-ray Top 10 in full:
1. The Hurt Locker (Elevation Sales)
2. Up (Walt Disney)
3. 2012 (Sony Pictures)
4. The Twilight Saga – New Moon (E1)
5. District 9 (Sony Pictures)
6. This Is It (Sony Pictures)
7. Toy Story (Walt Disney)
8. The Taking Of Pelham 123 (Sony Pictures)
9. Inglourious Basterds (Universal Pictures)
10. Toy Story 2 (Walt Disney)