The home video market in Western Europe is expected to generate total retail revenues of €11billion by the end of 2008, with 97% of those revenues coming from packaged media (DVD and Blu-ray) and 3% from new digital video (online and mobile video), according to UK-based Futuresource Consulting.

Although revenues from online video are currently low, the presence of major hardware players such as Apple (iTunes), Microsoft (Xbox Live Video Marketplace) and the recently launched PlayStation Network video service from Sony provides a promising outlook for the market. Futuresource anticipates online video revenues to increase significantly by 2012 and along with mobile video will represent 13% of total video revenues in Western Europe.

As the vast majority of revenues in the short to medium term will come from packaged media, the analysts note a raft of initiatives in the market aimed at boosting sales. The continued release of blockbuster titles on Blu-ray will be key factor in holding up packaged media; however, in the near term the focus continues to be on DVD.

Across Europe an increasing amount of titles are being heavily re-promoted in the 3-4 month post release period – many using special packaging to differentiate and add value on the retailers shelf.

The continued appetite for TV content on DVD has also helped to drive somewhat of a resurgence in non-standard packaging. Although TV content is performing well in UK, it has been Germany, Spain and Belgium that has witness impressive 25% growth rates in volume terms for TV content on DVD in an otherwise near-flat market.

Story filed 15.09.08