Home Entertainment Falls In The US

The recession had resulted in home entertainment sales falling to US$ 18.8bn for 2010 from US$ 19.4bn in 2009, according to Digital Entertainment Group (DEG).

With cable and cinema also falling, the media industry seems to belie the state of the nation and is a stark contrast to recessions in the 30s and 70s when entertainment grew during recessions by some measures.

Perhaps the most surprising element is Blu-ray, with sales of US$ $1.8bn, although outstripped by download sales of US$ 2.5bn and matched by VoD sales of US$ 1.8bn, up 20.8%. It has certainly caught on more in the US than in Europe, perhaps helped by the PS.

However, I expect this to be a blip like DAT was before streaming services take over.

Overall, however, the figures do show the resilience of paid for content even in difficult times.