Report: Blu-ray Disc Consumer Awareness and Sales On the Rise May 12, 2009

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According to point-of-sale (POS) tracking data from The NPD Group, Blu-ray Disc (BD) video technology is moving further into the mainstream. First quarter sales of stand-alone Blu-ray players in the U.S. grew to more than 400,000 units, an increase of 72% over Q1 2008. Dollar sales increased 14%, to US$107.2 million.

NPD’s "Blu-ray Report" for March revealed that overall consumer awareness of the BD format in the United States has reached 90% awareness in the past six months. Purchase intent for Blu-ray set-top boxes also rose slightly, with 6% of respondents saying they would be "extremely or very likely" to buy in the next six months, compared with 5% who responded similarly in the August report. Despite these high awareness levels, NPD says that more than half of adults (58%) continue to report that they were still "not very familiar" with BD.

NPD says that the average selling price for a stand-alone BD player fell nearly 34%-- from $393 in Q1 2008 to $261 in Q1 2009. NPD also says that consumers who claim that they are likely to buy in the next six months expect to pay $214, on average.

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