NPD Study Shows Consumers Prefer Discs

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"While many in the home video industry worry that digital consumers might walk away from packaged media, that hasn't happened yet,' said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD...."

Cubist commentary

There's been a continuing discussion in the home entertainment industry, and particularly among the Blu-ray/DVD development studios and related industry groups, about the threat which Video-On-Demand (VOD) poses to packaged media. On the face, the NPD study reveals that DVD is still the dominant format, which is not news to anyone. Digging a little deeper into their analysis, however, shows more complex trends. Downloaders overall seem to be technologically adventurous entertainment seekers, but that doesn't mean that they have abandoned packaged media. In both DVD and Blu-ray purchase and rental, this group leads the general population by a significant amount, engaging in Blu-ray rental/purchase behavior at nearly five times the rate of the general population, 25% vs. 5%. While this is certainly less than than the comparable numbers for DVD (80% of the VOD users reported rental/purchase of DVD vs. 50% of the general population), the overall message is clear. VOD isn't a Blu-ray killer. Combined with recent reports of accelerating demand for Blu-ray software, we think it's easy to see Blu-ray is assimilating into American's entertainment experience...even for those who are early adopters for other technologies.

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