UK DVD sales hit £2bn in ’09

The DVD market continues to outperform video games in 2009, with 2.167 billion worth of DVD and Blu-ray discs sold last year.

The figure is according to the British Video Association (BVA) with data supplied by the Official Charts Company – and relayed to MCV.

In contrast, video game software sales reached 1.73 billion in 2009.

Despite the robust performance, the home entertainment market is still 10.1 per cent down compared to 2008, with the BVA highlighting the collapse of Woolworths and Zavvi as the reason for the fall.

Sales of DVDs fell 7.3 per cent during 2009, however, in contrast the sales of Blu-ray discs increased 123 per cent.

Standalone Blu-ray players were also up 158 per cent year-on-year. The big DVD sellers included Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince, Quantum of Solace and Twilight.

The home entertainment industry has come through the recession fighting and rallied in the run up to Christmas," said BVA director general Lavinia Carey.

"Careful shoppers have benefitted from the fantastic promotional offers last year but the loss of Woolworths’ and Zavvi’s 900‐odd stores meant that the 13 per cent market‐share they jointly represented, worth around 300 million, has been slow to replace, particularly given the high propensity of Woolworths shoppers to buy on impulse."

The BVA now expects 2010 to be growth year for the home video market, which was boosted by a 1.8 per cent year-on-year sales increase in December.

The body also expect HD TV sales to spike ahead of the World Cup in the summer.

The UK’s Top 10 Best Selling titles 2009 (all formats) 1. Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince (Warner) 2. Quantum Of Solace (Fox) 3. Twilight (E1 Entertainment) 4. Transformers ‐ Revenge Of The Fallen (Paramount) 5. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox) 6. Madagascar ‐ Escape 2 Africa (Paramount ) 7. Michael McIntyre ‐ Hello Wembley (Universal) 8. Angels & Demons (Sony Pictures) 9. High School Musical 3 ‐ Senior Year (Walt Disney) 10. Ice Age 3 ‐ Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (Fox)