So
another CES has come and gone and in the past few weeks my colleagues have so eloquently highlighted what stood out on the
showroom floor, and any extensions of that floor – i.e. hotel rooms, lunch
tables, or cramped corners in the press room – that showcased the next big (or
little) idea. And I must admit, as a relative newbie to the show I was starry
eyed and intrigued by all the gadgets, from the robot that rode a bike to the
beautiful and lifelike 8K HDTV display (with a picture so crisp I shamefully
admit that I thought it was a mural when I passed by). But after the show was
said and done it was those products that are no longer drooled over or blogged
about that danced around in my head.
With
connected TVs, phones, tablets, and gaming systems being the stars of the show,
what about the less glamorous products that are no longer under the spotlight,
such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc players? Despite
reports of near death, DTC forecasts significant shipments for the next five
years and likely beyond within the DVD and Blu-ray Disc market. Even in the
face of decline, prerecorded DVD and Blu-ray disc shipments are expected to
hover above the annual 4.5 billion mark as far out as 2017. And even though Blu-ray
doesn’t come close to rivaling its DVD predecessor in shipment volume or
longevity, it continues to pump life into the market. Player shipments are
expected to experience nominal growth over the next five years with 128 million
units shipping in 2013 and 140 million in 2017 on the strength of Blu-ray Disc
players. Taking into account PCs and video game systems, DVD and Blu-ray Disc
devices are expected to ship over 400 million units annually through 2017.
Even with
Internet-delivered and DVR-archived content eating into the market, packaged
media continues to hold on to a large portion of the video delivery market with
significant growth in select geographies. The days of prolific growth are long gone
and most surely will never return for the shiny disc. But to write the packaged
media obituary is premature and to ignore it altogether is to miss one of the
most significant revenue streams in the video entertainment industry.
For
more information on DTC’s Video Optical Disc market forecasts, you can go here to see a table of
contents for our Video Optical Disc: Devices and Media report.
