Report: Blu-ray penetration at 29.4M worldwide by end of year

Annual hardware sales to double by 2012

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 3/26/2008

MARCH 26 | Now that the format war is over, Blu-ray Disc hardware penetration will boost to 29.4 million homes worldwide this year, according to a report by the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices Services.

Overall, 18.8 million Blu-ray units will be sold in 2008. Breaking down that figure, Strategy Analytics projects 4 million stand-alone set-tops, 13 million PlayStation 3 consoles and 2 million PC-based Blu-ray drives will sell globally this year.

Fueled by a clear high-definition format choice as well as ongoing consumer transition to HDTVs, by 2012, sales of Blu-ray devices will be 57.4 million units. That just about doubles projected sales in 2008.

Also by 2012, more than 132 million homes worldwide will have at least one Blu-ray device.

“HD DVD’s withdrawal leaves the way open for Blu-ray to become a major revenue earner for technology vendors and content owners alike,” said David Mercer, principal analyst at Strategy Analytics. “The 265 million homes that will own an HDTV by 2012, and Hollywood’s need for a new growth engine, represent huge incentives for the industry to coordinate marketing activities and demonstrate unified support for the successor to DVD.”

The largest Blu-ray market by 2012 will be Europe, predicts the research firm, with 26.4 million Blu-ray devices being sold that year. The U.S. and Japan trail at 22.6 million units and 8.4 million units, respectively.