British Video Association announced an unprecedented 51.7m in DVD sales to the end of September, the UK’s best ever third quarter performance, up 6.5% on that of 2007.

This September alone was a record bumper month with total video sales up a 7.4% on the same month last year. This took sales to the end of September 2008 up to 161.8 million DVDs and 164.2 million units if all other formats are included. Total video value is £1.4 billion. Blu-ray disc sales were up 396% to 1.486 million units year to date.

As a result of these figures Screen Digest have today increased their 2008 DVD forecasts to 1.2%, meaning that 251.1 million DVDs are expected to be sold by the end of the year. The UK analysts have raised 2012 unit sales forecast from 187 million to 208 million.

The months running up to Christmas represent the biggest sales period for home entertainment industries and with consumers being offered better value than ever before plus a large number of strong titles coming out over the coming weeks in all genres, this growth is expected to continue.

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association, says: “2007 was a record year for sales of DVD and so it’s very encouraging to see another record nine months into 2008. Everyone enjoys a well told story and at times of economic hardship, history has shown that UK consumers turn to the home entertainment and film industries for comfort."

Lavinia Carey continues, “We are now seeing Blu-ray contributing to the success of the home entertainment market, as consumers begin to explore its groundbreaking bonus features, superlative picture and sound quality, on an increasing number of new titles offered at the same time as standard definition releases. As this summer’s successful films join the pre-Christmas line up on all video formats, we are hopeful of another record year for the home entertainment sector.”

The UK cinema industry has also seen its best performance in 40 years, with the Cinema Exhibitors’ Association announcing total admissions for the months of June to August this year at 53.6 million. This is a 6 % increase on Summer 2007, itself seen as a particularly strong performer in recent times.

Story filed 20.10.08