Sales of Blu-ray movies boomed over the holidays, while DVD movies sales continued to fall.
Blu-ray movie shipments grew 35% year-on-year in the U.S. to 38.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, not surprisingly the best quarter of the year in the lead up to Christmas. Meanwhile shipments of standard DVD movies dropped 17% from the same period in 2008, down to 374.7 million, according to the Digital Entertainment Group.
The drop in DVD sales has slowed compared to the recession-driven 31% plunge the previous year. Even with the latest figures, DVD continues to make up the lion's share of home video revenue.
Meanwhile digital downloads via the Internet and cable systems continue to gain ground, with revenue up 32% to $2.1 billion. The growth can be partially attributed to efforts to match Video on Demand release dates with Blu-ray/DVD release dates.
