For a change, no rewind on home video spending

By Thomas K. Arnold

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The domestic home video business got a rosy report card for the first quarter, with a surprising lift after two down years.

Consumer spending on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs in the first three months of this year was up about 1% to $5.51 billion when compared with the first three months of 2007, according to Home Media Magazine market research estimates based on studio and retail data.

Sales were up 2.3% to $3.47 million, while rental spending slipped 1.6% to $2.04 billion.

The cheery sales picture also saw unit sales to consumers rise 2.6% to 231,928 units from 225,999 units in the first quarter of 2007.

The nascent Blu-ray Disc saved the day for the sell-through business, according to Nielsen VideoScan sales data, with sales up 351%. DVD unit sales, on the other hand, were down 1.2%. Nielsen numbers are based on point-of-sale data from most big retail chains, with the notable exception of Wal-Mart.

Consumer spending on home video has been slipping in recent years. For 2007, total sales were off 0.5% to $23.7 billion; the year before, they dipped 0.4% to $24.2 billion.

Will Smith's "I Am Legend" was the top-selling title, followed by "Enchanted," "American Gangster," "Bee Movie" and "3:10 to Yuma."

In terms of studio market share, "I Am Legend" distributor Warner Home Video snagged 20.1% of total consumer home entertainment spending.

Walt Disney Home Entertainment was next with a market share of 14.8%. Disney, as always, was particularly strong on the sell-through front, with five of the top 10 DVD sellers, led by "Enchanted."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter