KEY FACTS ABOUT WORLD VIDEO IN 2007
* World consumer spending on video software grew 1.3 per cent to $53.3bn in 2007 after two consecutive years of decline
* Worldwide DVD Video player/recorder penetration rose to 45 per cent in 2007, up from 40 per cent in 2006
* DVD accounted for 98 per cent of world spending on video software in 2007
* Retail video accounted for 68 per cent of spending in 2007, rental 32 per cent
* The decline in rental appears to have stabilised thanks to online services
* International unit shipments (retail and rental) outnumbered those in North America for the first time in 2007
[GRAPHICS OMITTED]
STRONG TITLES STABILISE VIDEO SPENDING
World consumer spending on buying and renting video software returned to minimal growth in 2007 after two consecutive years of decline. Consumers worldwide spent $53.3bn on buying and renting video software (all formats) in 2007, an increase of 1.3 per cent. A strong slate of film titles--including the latest in the Spider-Man, Harry Potter, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean franchises--helped stabilise the market, despite a general downturn in catalogue and other titles. DVD accounted for nearly 98 per cent of this figure, whilst spending on high-definition software just surpassed that of spending on videocassettes and Video CD (VCD) software combined. Total spending on video software, however, still remained below the peak of $54.7bn recorded in 2004.
At the distributor level, revenues from video software grew two per cent to $31.0bn in 2007, of which the retail and rental DVD sectors accounted for 83 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
It should be noted this data reflects changes as shown in US dollars and is therefore susceptible to exchange rate fluctuations. The 1.3 per cent increase in dollar terms pertaining to consumer spend in 2007 represented a decrease of seven per cent if the same data is analysed in euro values. This discrepancy illustrates one of the problems involved in comparing data on international markets, particularly following a year of such extreme exchange rate fluctuations as 2007.
Outlook: Screen Digest is forecasting world spending on video to dip slightly in 2008 before returning to growth in 2009 as Blu-ray Disc (
BD) becomes established.
RETAIL DRIVING WORLD VIDEO MARKET
Over the past 15 years the global video business has changed dramatically. Not only has worldwide video spending almost doubled (from $27.5bn in 1992 to $53.3bn in 2007), but the market has evolved from being primarily a rental business to one that is driven almost entirely by the retail sale of pre-recorded product. In 1992, when the concept of retail (or sell-through) video was starting to take hold, rental still accounted for over two thirds of consumer spending on VHS worldwide. By 2007, however, the advent of DVD had turned the tables completely and 68 per cent of all spending on physical media was generated by video purchase rather than rental.
[GRAPHIC OMITTED]
The trend towards buying rather than renting video is strong in the US and even more so in Europe. In the US, which accounts for approximately half of global consumer spending on video and thus plays a key role in dictating trends, rental accounted for 70 per cent of spending in 1992, a proportion that declined gradually over the subsequent 15 years. By the middle of the first decade of the new century, rental's share had more or less stabilised at around 34 per cent of spending. This stabilisation can be attributed, at least in part, to renewed consumer interest in the concept of rental, following the emergence of Netflix's unlimited online subscription rental model in 2000.
The trend towards retail is even more noticeable in the biggest European markets. By 1992 consumers were already spending more on buying videos than on renting them in the UK, France and Italy, with spending in Germany and Spain still just biased in favour of rental. By 2007, and despite the emergence of viable online rental operations in the Netflix mould in each market, British, French and German consumers were all devoting less than one fifth of their home entertainment spending to rental (11 per cent, six per cent and 17 per cent respectively).
[GRAPHICS OMITTED]
A few countries still have a significant rental sector: Spain and Italy in Europe and especially Japan. In Spain, where the resilience of the rental business (and the relatively slow growth of retail) has even persuaded the studios that it makes good business sense to re-introduce a rental window, the sector has actually generated over 40 per cent of spending in eight out of the past 10 years.
Meanwhile, Italy bucks several trends, being not only the only territory where rental's market share increased in the 1990s, as the installation of a vast number of automated rental vending machines helped the fragmented store base to expand exponentially, but is also the only one where, based on current exchange rates, consumers actually spent less on buying videos in 2007 than in 1992.
Needless to say, this lack of growth in the total video sector means that rental's increased market share is less impressive than it first appears. But the real champion of rental remains Japan. In 1992 rental accounted for just over 80 per cent of spending on video software: 10 years later that share had fallen by just 20 percentage points to 61 per cent. Between 2002 and 2005 it continued to fall, reaching a low point of 52 per cent, before returning to growth and checking in at 58 per cent in 2007 (see also Japan under Regional Analysis).
Outlook: The general downturn in the world economic climate might have a bearing on the rental market in the short-to-medium term. Historically, the video rental business has benefitted from economic hardship as a cheaper alternative to video retail, and indeed other forms of entertainment. However, the steady erosion of retail DVD prices in recent years has reduced the gap between the cost of buying and renting. Moreover, consumers might consider ownership more cost-effective as this allows for repeated viewings. Screen Digest expects worldwide video spending on retail and rental to hold steady in 2008 at $36.0bn and $17.1bn respectively.
[GRAPHIC OMITTED]
INTERNATIONAL FIRST TRUMPS NORTH AMERICA
The total number of video software units shipped to international markets (all formats, retail and rental) outnumbered North American shipments for the first time in 2007. Just over 2.8bn video units were shipped worldwide in 2007, up 3.7 per cent on 2006. The international video industry (outside North America) experienced a 12 per cent increase in volume terms to just over 1.4bn units. By comparison, North American video software shipments fell almost four per cent to just below 1.4bn units, of which DVD and new hi-def discs accounted for 98 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively.
Stronger VCD and DVD volume growth along with a less significant fall in videocassette shipments compared with North America helped boost the importance of the international video business on the world video stage in 2007. The international market accounted for 50.4 per cent of video shipments worldwide in 2007, up from a 46.6 per cent share in 2006. DVD accounted for almost 88 per cent of these, with VCD and hi-def discs capturing a 12 per cent and 0.6 per cent share respectively.
Outlook: Screen Digest expects the importance of the international video business on the world video stage to continue growing in 2008, increasing over two percentage points to almost 53 per cent of video shipments worldwide.
AVERAGE RETAIL DVD PRICES STABILISE
Average prices began to stabilise in 2007, all but ending a decade of decline--the price of a DVD has fallen every year since the format's launch in 1997 when consumers worldwide paid an average of $26.30 per disc. The worldwide average consumer price of a retail DVD fell in 2007 by less than one per cent from $15.36 in 2006 to $15.28. The slowdown reflected the increasing importance of higher-priced, full-season TV DVD box sets and a strong slate of titles released during the year that helped to shift purchases away from cheaper catalogue product towards premium-priced (albeit often heavily discounted) new releases. Meanwhile, the average price of a
BD was more than double the DVD equivalent at $35.00.
The most expensive DVDs are found in Japan, where consumers paid an average of $32.33 in 2007. The world's cheapest retail DVDs can be found in the emerging markets of the Asia-Pacific, where Chinese consumers paid an average of just $1.63 to purchase a legitimate DVD disc in 2007.
Average rental DVD consumer prices rose by just over one per cent to $3.41 in 2007. The highest recorded DVD rental prices were found in Iceland, where consumers paid $7.01, whilst renting a DVD was cheapest in Mexico at $1.79. Note, however, that due to insufficient data, Screen Digest does not estimate rental prices in countries where video rental is a 'grey market' (ie, unofficial) business.
Outlook: The stabilisation of average DVD prices is likely to prove short-lived. In view of our assessment that it will be difficult to repeat the exceptional release slate of fourth quarter 2007, Screen Digest believes that the proportion of sales accounted for by new releases will be marginally lower year-on-year. We anticipate that the resulting proportional increase in catalogue sales will contribute to a decline of around four per cent in the worldwide average price of a DVD.
HOMES WORLDWIDE PREFER DVD
Just over 456m households worldwide were equipped with at least one standalone DVD Video player or recorder by end 2007, up an impressive 14 per cent. This figure would be even higher if households equipped with only a DVD-enabled games console or PC were included. Worldwide preference for DVD hardware gained momentum in 2007 as consumers discarded their VCRs and VCD players. The world's VCD player base shrank 4.5 per cent to 41m, having fallen steadily since its peak of 54m in 2004. Launched in 1994, the VCD player is unique to the Asia-Pacific region (excluding the mature markets of Australia, Japan and New Zealand).
Meanwhile, 10.2m homes worldwide were equipped for hi-def, with either a dedicated standalone player or a compatible games console, by end 2007, of which
BD-capable hardware accounted for 92 per cent. Hi-def hardware penetration reached just one per cent of world TV and 11.2 per cent of HDTV households by the end of 2007 compared with DVD Video player and recorder penetration of 45 per cent.
Outlook: The number of DVD households worldwide is expected to continue climbing in 2008 albeit slightly more slowly than in 2007. Screen Digest expects the world DVD Video player/recorder installed base to exceed 500m for the first time in 2008, up around 10 per cent.
REGIONAL ANALYSIS
NORTH AMERICA
More homes in North America were equipped with a DVD Video player than a VCR for the first time in 2007. Nearly 106m households owned a DVD Video player, against 102m VCR homes by end 2007. DVD penetration increased five percentage points to almost 85 per cent of TV households, compared with 82 per cent VCR penetration. There were 4.3m households equipped with hi-def hardware, a standalone player or a games console, over the same period, giving 3.4 per cent penetration of TV households and 9.7 per cent of HDTV households.
North American spending on video software fell almost three per cent to $27bn in 2007, of which US consumers accounted for over 89 per cent. The US remains the single biggest contributor to the worldwide video business, accounting for 45 per cent of total video spending worldwide in 2007, but its share slipped two percentage points compared with 2006. Retail accounted for two-thirds of spending on video software by US consumers in 2007.
The US continues to boast one of the highest buy rates worldwide at 11.4 units. By comparison, retail DVD buy rates in the UK and Japan were 11.2 and 3.2 respectively. Rental also remains relatively popular in the US, where consumers spent $8.2bn on renting videos in 2007, a decline of just over two per cent. Americans made an average of 25.4 transactions per household in 2007, compared with 4.4 in the UK and a stunning 43.4 in Japan.
Meanwhile, North America accounted for over 70 per cent of the world's spending on high-definition disc formats in 2007. Consumers in the region spent $388m on buying and renting
BD and HD DVD software in 2007, up from $29m in 2006.
Consumer spending on video software in Canada remained virtually unchanged at nearly $2.9bn in 2007. Although much smaller than its US neighbour, Canadian spending on video software was the fourth highest in the world after the US, Japan and the UK.
Outlook: Screen Digest and its US research division Adams Media Research expect North American video spending to increase slightly in 2008, up one per cent to $27.3bn, on the back of growth in
BD sales.
LATIN AMERICA
Economic growth in Latin America has been a major contributing factor to video market growth in recent years. Increased household disposable income, combined with huge interest in FIFA World Cup football in 2006, has lead to a surge in TV and DVD hardware ownership among the increasingly wealthy, newly-created middle classes.
Penetration of DVD Video players and recorders in Latin America has doubled in the past two years and the format is now the preferred video hardware in the region penetrating 56 per cent of TV households by the end of 2007. Brazil's DVD Video player/recorder installed base of 26.5m was nearly twice that of Mexico's 13.7m DVD homes by end 2007. Many of Brazil's newly-equipped households initially experimented with renting DVDs, resulting in an unexpected explosion in DVD rental transactions in late 2006. The number of independent local rental stores began to increase accordingly and in January 2007 Brazil's largest generalist retailer Lojas Americanas, responded to these market conditions by purchasing the franchise rights to the 127 Blockbuster stores in the country from Unibanco Empreendimentos e Participacoes and signing a 20-year licensing deal with Blockbuster for the rights to use the latter's brand name in Brazil.
However, the environment that initially created a spike in DVD rental also led to an increase in the purchase of legitimate DVDs over traditional DVD rental, alongside an upturn in other leisure activities such as going to the cinema, dining out and greater internet activity. Furthermore, these economic changes stimulated DVD piracy in the region with the adverse effects particularly felt in the rental sector.
As a result, many Brazilian households have switched their allegiance to DVD retail over rental, causing a sudden and dramatic downturn in rental transactions. This directly resulted in the closure of many small 'mom and pop' independent rental stores over 2007, whereas many larger generalists stores, such as Lojas Americanas, adopted a strategy of either converting rental space to retail or moving it away from home entertainment product altogether.
Rental spending in Latin America fell 13 per cent to $477m against a 10 per cent increase in retail spending to $605m. Overall, consumers spent nearly $1.1bn on video software in 2007, down 1.4 per cent. The share of total spending accounted for by DVD increased just over one percentage point to 99.7 per cent by end 2007.
Meanwhile, the Latin American
BD market being still in its infancy, early indications are that improving economic conditions in the country will facilitate a faster adoption of
BD than was the case for DVD.
BD players are available in the region in the form of imported US stock of Sony's PS3 and in the first half of 2008 an estimated 20,000 units of
BD software were sold through to high-end Brazilian video consumers.
Outlook: Despite rising hardware penetration in Latin America in recent years, much of the accompanying increase in demand for home entertainment is being met by the counterfeiters. As a result, Screen Digest is projecting a decline of seven per cent in total software spending to $1.0bn in 2008.
EUROPE
Europe represents 35 per cent of DVD households worldwide, making it larger than any other world region, including North America, Asia Pacific or Latin America. The number of DVD households in Europe climbed from 145m in 2006 to 161m in 2007, increasing DVD penetration from 62 per cent to 69 per cent of TV households.
Meanwhile, hi-def hardware began to make its presence felt, as the format war depressed prices, particularly for standalone players. Early entry-level
BD players were priced at 1,000 [euro] ($1,350) but within 12 months devices were available for 400 [euro] ($550). Without the competition between the two formats, and the consistently lower prices of HD DVD hardware, it is unlikely that prices would have fallen this quickly. By end 2007, 3.4m European households were equipped for hi-def, with either a standalone player or a games console, of which
BD-capable hardware accounted for nearly 97 per cent.
European consumer spending on video software increased seven per cent in dollar terms to $15.7bn in 2007, of which DVD accounted for over 99 per cent. Spending on DVD rental declined almost five per cent to $2.5bn after transactions fell by 12 per cent to 572m. As a result, tie ratios in Europe fell by 21 per cent to just 3.5 DVDs on average in 2007 versus 4.5 in 2006.
European consumer spending on retail DVD software increased 10 per cent to $13.0bn in 2007. The number of DVDs sold to European consumers grew a further five per cent in 2007, from 723m in 2006 to 756m. The high-definition disc formats,
BD and HD DVD, contributed a further $113m to total video spending in Europe in 2007. Combined sales of
BD and HD DVD reached 2.9m units in 2007, accounting for 0.4 per cent of total retail video volume.
Western Europe
More than three quarters of TV households in Western Europe were equipped with at least one stand-alone DVD player or recorder by end 2007. Average DVD penetration in the region reached 78 per cent, up from 71 per cent in 2006, which translates into 129m DVD households.
Consumer spending on video software in Western Europe increased almost seven per cent to $15.2bn in 2007. The big five European markets accounted for more than three-quarters of this spending with the UK boasting the single largest share at 35 per cent, followed by Germany with 15 per cent and France with 14 per cent.
Central and Eastern Europe
DVD penetration in CE Europe continues to climb steadily, rising from 40 per cent in 2006 to 47 per cent in 2007. There were nearly 32m DVD households in CE Europe by end 2007, of which Russia alone represented 25m.
Consumer spending in the region on buying and renting video software increased almost 24 per cent to $537m in 2007 of which DVD accounted for 99.7 per cent. Retail continues to perform strongly recording a fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, increasing just over 29 percent to $507m in 2007.
Outlook: Screen Digest expects the number of DVD households in Europe to continue to climb but at a much slower rate than in previous years as DVD hardware sales are increasingly channelled into replacement or duplicate devices. The installed DVD base is expected to reach 171m, which translates into a penetration rate of 72 per cent, by end 2008. More than three quarters of DVD homes in the region will be found in Western Europe. On the software side, Screen Digest is projecting that total video spending in Europe will decline by four per cent in 2008 to $15.1bn of which Western European consumers will account for 96 per cent.
ASIA-PACIFIC
DVD penetration reached almost 26 per cent in Asia-Pacific in 2007. Just over 149m homes in the region were equipped with at least one DVD Video player or recorder by end 2007, compared with almost 69m VCR homes (12 per cent).
After two years of decline Asia-Pacific spending on buying and renting video software grew four per cent in 2007. Consumers spent almost $9.5bn across the three video formats that are available in the region--DVD and VCD discs and VHS cassettes. The VHS format is, however, obsolete throughout most of the Asia-Pacific region, whilst the importance of the VCD format in the emerging markets has also diminished.
DVD generated 94 per cent of total spending on video software within the region in 2007. Our analysis of the Asia-Pacific market covers three 'mature markets'--Australia, New Zealand and Japan--and seven 'emerging markets': China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Outlook: By end 2008, Screen Digest expects the number of DVD households in Asia-Pacific to reach 171m. Consumer spending on video software is forecast to grow three per cent to $9.7bn in 2008.
Australia/New Zealand
The combined Australian and New Zealand hardware market boasted one of the highest rates of DVD penetration in the world by end 2007: 89 per cent, compared with the US (84 per cent), UK (86 per cent) and Japan (54 per cent). The Australian and New Zealand installed base of DVD Video players and recorders grew 8.3 per cent to 8.3m by end 2007. Meanwhile, the
BD player installed base grew to nearly 185,000 at the year end, of which over 96 per cent were
BD-enabled households, the vast majority of these being Sony PS3 games consoles.
On the software side, Australian and New Zealand retail DVD sales soared by over 28 per cent to 90m units in 2007, up from 70m units in 2006. This in turn increased consumer spending on DVD discs almost 31 per cent to over $1.3bn. The uplift in sales of TVDVD box sets, solid performances by blockbuster titles, a relatively stable unit base of catalogue titles and major retail promotional events were the key drivers of sales growth in 2007.
The Australian and New Zealand result contrasted with other mature markets worldwide. By comparison, retail DVD spending grew 14 per cent in the UK, fell 4.4 per cent in the US and declined 8.0 per cent in Japan. Australia was the major driver of growth in the region with retail DVD spending increasing an incredible 32 per cent in dollar terms compared with New Zealand's less impressive rise of 22 per cent. However, New Zealand's comparatively weak performance was in part due to an exceptional 2006, bolstered by the outstanding performance of home-grown title The World's Fastest Indian and the collapse of the 50-store music retailer Sounds in October 2007.
A string of major promotional events by the country's key retailers were behind the exceptional growth in the Australian retail market in 2007. Big W started the drive, staging its Movie Mayhem event in August 2006 shortly after the annual July toy catalogue promotion. The traditionally strong year-end shopping season followed in November 2006, whilst Big W staged another Movie Mayhem promotion shortly after the Christmas sales in January 2007. Big W and two other Australian major retailers (Target and Kmart) all held major promotions in March 2007. Target followed up with a major Disney promotion in June 2007 prior to the July toy catalogue sale. In August 2007, Big W repeated its Movie Mayhem event in the lead up to the Christmas shopping season, which was backed by the strong title slate in December 2007. These events not only helped drive strong catalogue sales but also arguably boosted awareness of the DVD category, which in turn helped generate sales when the strong slate of tent-pole titles hit the shelves.
Meanwhile, the fledgling high-definition video market failed to make much impact in Australian and New Zealand in 2007. Although
BD unit sales to consumers did increase significantly in the final quarter of 2007, combined sales of the two formats did not exceed 200,000 units. Outlook: Consumer spending on video software in the combined Australian and New Zealand market is expected to increase at a more modest eight per cent to $2.3bn in 2008, compared with the double-digit growth experienced in 2007.
Japan
The number of Japanese DVD households increased from 24.6m to 26.3m, just below 54 per cent of TV households, by end 2007. DVD Video player/recorder penetration remains relatively low in Japan as many households use a Sony PlayStation 2 games console to also play DVDs. Nearly 21.5m homes owned a PS2 by end 2007.
Meanwhile, despite its earlier launch in Japan and the relative lack of support for the rival HD DVD format throughout 2007, support for
BD remains minimal. Reflecting the importance of DVD recorders in the Japanese market, CE companies have launched a number of
BD recorders, but just 125,000 Japanese homes were equipped with a standalone
BD machine by end 2007. A further 1.7m households in Japan owned a PS3.
Despite a strong film slate and brisk demand for foreign TVDVD, consumer spending on video software declined by three per cent in 2007 to $6.5bn. This translates to 12 per cent of worldwide spending, making Japan the second largest single-territory video market in the world after the US. However, the strength of local product means that the UK has a greater demand for Hollywood titles.
Japanese consumer spending on rental software held steady at almost $3.8bn. The average Japanese DVD household rented a staggering 43.4 units in 2007, compared with 25.4 in the US and 4.4 in the UK. It should, however, be noted that the Japanese averages are distorted by the inclusion in the transaction figures of rentals by owners of DVD-enabled games consoles.
Spending on retail software fell seven per cent to nearly $2.7bn in 2007 as the average DVD buy rate in Japan fell by 20 per cent in 2007, from 4.0 units to 3.2 units. Blu-ray accounted for 1.3 per cent of this figure, compared with 1.1 per cent in the US and 0.7 per cent in the UK.
A combination of high retail prices and limited shelf space in the average home has historically combined to ensure that the majority of consumers never acquired the DVD collecting habit in the way that their Western counterparts did. This decline may have been worse without solid performances by domestic titles, such as the two-part fantasy-suspense film Death Note and Death Note: The Last Name in 2007. Other domestic titles to perform well included Tales from Earthsea (Disney) and Dororo (Universal Pictures). Based on the anime TV series of the same name from the late 1960s, Dororo was turned into a live action film in 2006. Two additional films from the series are in production and scheduled for theatrical release in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Outlook: The Japanese preference for renting rather than buying DVD titles is expected to further impact retail sales in 2008. Spending on retail DVD software is forecast to fall around five per cent to $2.6bn, compared with an eight per cent increase in rental DVD spending to $3.8bn. Overall, the Japanese market will be stable in 2008, with total consumer spending on video holding steady at $6.5bn.
BD is expected to account for just four per cent of retail video spending (compared with six per cent in the US), although a number of studio initiatives to increase the visibility of Blu-ray at rental may help raise the profile of the format among consumers.
[GRAPHIC OMITTED]
India
Around 20m Indian households were equipped with video disc players by end 2007. About 12m of these owned a VCD player and a further 8m homes were equipped with at least one DVD Video player. Unlike the situation in more mature video markets--where upgrading to DVD from VHS or, indeed, to
BD from DVD, tends to result in multiple equipment ownership--the overlap between VCD and DVD households is minimal in India. This reflects the fact that the vast majority of video households own only a single machine (of either format), whilst wealthier households tend to own DVD player(s) rather than VCD players.
The Indian
BD market is in its infancy. A handful of PS3s were imported into India in 2007 and standalone players are expected to trickle out this year.
On the software side, Indian consumers bought almost 90m legitimate video discs in 2007 -80m VCDs and 10m DVDs. Driving growth was the aggressive entry of Delhi-based Moser Baer (MB), which claims to be the world's second largest manufacturer of optical discs. MB picked up rights to nearly 7,500 titles and leveraged its proprietary replication technology to allow it to sell VCD and DVD discs for around one tenth of the usual price. MB began selling DVDs at just Rs 34 ($0.85) each in January 2007, compared with a previous market average of around Rs 300 ($7.30). VCDs were priced at Rs 28 ($0.70), compared with Rs 150 ($3.65).
The dramatic price cuts were rapidly imitated by other distributors of local movies. T-Series reduced the price of selected movie DVDs to Rs 45 ($1.10) and introduced a package of three films for Rs 75 ($1.80). Ultra slashed the price of catalogue titles from Rs 300 ($7.30) to Rs 45 ($1.10). MB alone accounted for 75 per cent of all VCD sales by volume in India in 2007 and about half of all DVD sales. In comparison, US studio titles, which cost several times as much as MB product, generated just four per cent of VCD sales by volume and nine per cent of DVD sales. Overall, Indian consumers spent $146m on buying legitimate video discs in 2007, with VCD and DVD accounting for 80 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. The market for
BD was negligible.
MB's entrance into the Indian market has had relatively little impact on the potential for Hollywood studio titles, since their products have very different target audiences. MB's key focus is India's second and third towns, where the company has benefitted from its existing blank media business to establish an extensive distribution network that is not available to the studios or their licensees. Although demand for US product is growing, it is still predominantly found among wealthier consumers in the major urban areas. Sales of 25,000-30,000 units (across all formats) are not unusual for fairly strong US titles, although with the right promotion some action titles have sold 100,000 units or more. Titles with a strong local connection--such as Disney's Jungle Book--also tend to sell well.
Studio interest in India has been increasing since Sony became the first to establish its own operating company in the territory in 2005. The other studios all still operate through licensees, although this sector has been shaken up recently by the launch of a home entertainment distribution business by the Reliance Group, which has won contracts with Universal, Warner and Paramount from local rival Saregama. However, although the volume of US business has been increasing, the recent explosion in the number of local titles means that the studios' share--especially of the VCD market--has stabilised in the past couple of years.
Outlook: Screen Digest expects the Indian VCD and DVD hardware and software businesses to grow strongly in 2008, increasing disc-based households to more than 25m and driving total spending on video software to over $200m.
Korea
The viability of a packaged media business for US studios in South Korea is bleak. Consumer spending on buying DVD software fell for the third consecutive year in 2007, down 19 per cent to just over $39m. The DVD tie ratio (buy rate) in South Korea was less than one legitimate disc (0.8) per DVD player/recorder equipped household in 2007. By comparison, other small densely populated countries such as Hong Kong purchased twice as many discs (1.6) and Singapore (2.3), whilst neighbouring Japan purchased four times as many discs (3.2) on average.
The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that adoption of standalone DVD hardware is also very low. Fewer than 21 per cent of South Korean TV households had a DVD Video player/ recorder by end 2007. This was among the world's lowest DVD penetration rates and compares with a rate of 54 per cent in Japan, 84 per cent in the US, 86 per cent in the UK and 89 per cent in Australia over the same period.
The downward spiral of the DVD format has resulted in US studios scaling back their presence in South Korea. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment closed its subsidiary office in South Korea at end September 2008. Sony's decision to downgrade its South Korean presence from a subsidiary office to a licensee relationship with a local home entertainment distributor follows similar moves by Universal, Paramount, Disney and Fox in 2006. Their DVDs are now distributed via local licensees CJ Entertainment (Paramount), Kd Media (Disney), United Entertainment Korea (Sony and Universal) and Pre.GM (Fox). Screen Digest anticipates that Warner, currently the only US major still with its own operating company in the territory, is also likely to make a similar move in due course.
The moves reflect the fact that Korea's DVD industry has come under intense pressure in recent years from the emergence of new media channels such as VoD and IPTV for which the country can claim one of the highest spends per head. South Korea's unusual and exceptionally high urban broadband speeds and broadband penetration (now over 80 per cent) mean that downloading films via the internet is a practical mass distribution channel.
This, combined with high levels of physical piracy and significant levels of illegal movie downloads, has weakened the potential of the DVD market (unusually in Asia it never developed a VCD business). As a result South Korea, a key international market for US product in the days of VHS, has slipped almost off the Hollywood radar. Outlook: Some observers hope it will be possible to build a niche market for Blu-ray Disc (
BD) in South Korea. Sony Pictures commenced the sale of
BD software in September 2007 followed by Warner in December 2007.
BD does, however, face significant challenges due to hardware delays, a lack of marketing support and broadband speeds high enough to make even hi-def content accessible. As a result, Korea may prove to be the first market where packaged media is no longer a viable business for US studios.
Other Asia Pacific
Nearly 115m homes were equipped with DVD hardware in the emerging markets of the Asia-Pacific by end 2007 increasing DVD penetration by three percentage points to almost 22 per cent of TV households. The world's most populous nation, China had the largest installed base of DVD Video players at nearly 93m by end 2007.
Consumers in the emerging markets of the Asia-Pacific spent a total of $796m on buying and renting video software in 2007--an increase of 1.2 per cent, compared with a year earlier. It should be noted this data masks a huge difference in trends. The 1.2 per cent increase represented a 42 per cent rise in consumer spend in China and a 30 per cent fall in Korea. DVD saw its importance of total spending on video software in the emerging markets increase by 10 percentage points to 59 per cent in 2007 followed by spending on VCD (33 per cent) and videocassettes (eight per cent).
Outlook: Consumer spending in the emerging markets is expected to see further growth in 2008. Screen Digest anticipates that video spending will increase by eight per cent to around $865m. DSc
NORTH AMERICA Our analysis of North America encompasses the US and Canadian markets and draws on data from both Screen Digest and Adams Media Research (AMR).
EUROPE DEFINED
* Europe means the 22 European countries covered in detail by Screen Digest
* Western Europe Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK
* Central and Eastern (CE) Europe Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia
* For further detail on the European video markets see 2008/237-244
VIDEO INTELLIGENCE
Screen Digest's detailed statistical analysis of the video industry in 36 territories, with forecasts and key market information, is one of seven continuously updated online research services from Screen Digest. Visit
www.screendigest. com/intelligence or see page 322 for more information.
Average consumer prices
rental charge
2006 2007 40000
$ $ %
DVD
North America
USA 3.37 3.35 -0.73
Canada 3.61 3.82 5.77
Asia-Pacific
Japan3.18 3.11 -2.14
Australia/NZ 4.13 4.23 2.50
others -- -- --
Europe
Western Europe 4.15 4.47 7.85
Central/Eastern Europe 1.91 2.19 14.71
Latin America1.80 1.94 7.81
WORLD3.37 3.41 1.29
retail price
2006 2007 40000
$ $ %
DVD
North America
USA 14.41 14.34 -0.46
Canada 15.85 16.49 4.07
Asia-Pacific
Japan 30.11 32.33 7.35
Australia/NZ14.51 14.80 2.00
others 4.33 3.22 -25.66
Europe
Western Europe 17.24 18.37 6.54
Central/Eastern Europe 7.04 6.95 -1.36
Latin America 11.44 11.05 -3.42
WORLD 15.36 15.28 -0.53
Average retail DVD consumer price ranked
by territory
2005 2006 06/05
$ $ %
1Japan 30.11 32.337.4
2Iceland25.65 26.332.6
3France 21.36 23.118.2
4Greece 20.08 22.27 10.9
5Ireland21.38 21.621.1
6Switzerland20.09 19.85 -1.2
7Norway 18.58 19.313.9
8UK 17.99 18.784.4
9Taiwan 19.01 18.54 -2.5
10Germany16.16 17.437.8
11Italy 15.37 17.05 10.9
12Spain 14.74 16.90 14.7
13Canada 15.85 16.494.1
14Sweden 15.46 16.305.4
15Malaysia 16.88 16.23 -3.9
16Philippines16.77 16.12 -3.9
17Singapore 15.58 16.103.3
18Finland15.52 15.741.4
19Austria14.86 15.292.9
20Thailand 15.67 15.24 -2.7
21Croatia14.72 15.092.5
22Netherlands14.40 15.024.4
23Australia 14.80 14.931.0
24Belgium14.17 14.895.0
25Czech Republic 13.59 14.788.8
Average rental DVD consumer price ranked
by territory
2005 2006 06/05
$ $ %
1Iceland 6.83 7.012.6
2Norway 8.06 6.95 -13.7
3Denmark 5.96 6.529.5
4Ireland 5.86 6.368.5
5Sweden 5.47 6.13 12.1
6UK 5.42 6.03 11.3
7Switzerland 5.13 5.384.7
8Finland 4.71 5.21 10.6
9Netherlands 4.15 4.313.8
10Australia 4.18 4.241.3
11Belgium 3.94 4.196.4
12New Zealand 3.80 4.18 10.2
13Italy 4.00 3.99 -0.1
14Austria 3.55 3.868.7
15Canada 3.61 3.825.8
16France 3.75 3.791.1
17Hungary 3.05 3.47 14.0
18Germany 3.20 3.478.4
19USA 3.37 3.35 -0.7
20Spain 2.91 3.209.7
21Japan 3.18 3.11 -2.1
22Portugal2.51 2.749.1
23Croatia 2.05 2.249.0
24Greece 1.88 2.069.0
25Brazil 1.79 2.00 11.7
Source: Screen Digest; US data source: Adams Media Research
Top 20 international video markets 2007
spending on proportion
video software *spent on DVD
$m %
1 (1)USA 24,01798.8
2 (2)Japan 6,54695.8
3 (3)UK5,28399.4
4 (4)Canada2,84799.0
5 (6)Germany 2,19699.1
6 (5)France2,18299.3
7 (7)Australia 1,94999.7
8 (8)Italy 93699.2
9 (9)Spain 78499.3
10 (10)Brazil 65199.9
11 (11)Netherlands 63799.6
12 (12)Sweden 58599.7
13 (13)Norway 54799.6
14 (15)Belgium 44499.6
15 (14)Mexico 43199.5
16 (17)Ireland 36799.6
17 (16)Denmark 35499.6
18 (18)Switzerland 28599.5
19 (20)China 24281.2
20 (19)South Korea 10139.0
* On all legitimate video software (not just US titles)
2006 ranking in brackets
Source: Screen Digest
World consumer spending on video software by sector 2007
rental DVD 31.4%
hi-def disc 1%
rental VHS0.6%
retail VCD0.5%
rental VCD0.0%
Source: Screen Digest
Note: Table made from pie chart.
Asia-Pacific: DVD video player installed base by country 2007
Hong Kong 1.3%
India 5.4%
Malaysia 1.4%
Singapore 0.4%
Taiwan3.6%
Australia 4.6%
Japan17.6%
New Zealand 0.9%
South Korea 2.4%
China62.3%
Source: Screen Digest
Note: Table made from pie chart.
¡Bienvenido a mundodvd! Regístrate ahora y accede a todos los contenidos de la web. El registro es totalmente gratuito y obtendrás muchas ventajas.
Respuesta: DVD y España, una relación rota
Spoiler:
Casi duplicamos al total que hay en UK o DE. También un dato de 2008: bajó el mercado un 16% con respecto a 2007. Bajada similar a otros países de nuestro entorno y casi pareja a la italiana (cuanto pirata europeo suelto hay fuera de Eggggpaña, eh...).
Iniciado por Nec - Inn
Permisos de publicación
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Citar
