Blu-ray Disc sales continue to rise despite the recession biting the sector as a whole in the first half of the year, according to the British Video Association, putting a brave face on dire figures.

DVD sales are down a steep 9.5% year-on-year bringing the total number of discs sold in 2009 to 100 million. The BVA argues this fall is partly the result of consumers upgrading to Blu-ray.

More than 3.1 million Blu-ray Discs have sold in 2009 to date, a rise of 231% on the same period last year. There are now almost 1500 Blu-ray releases.

The outlook for the second half of the year is more promising, the BVA reckons. Its 2009 Yearbook shows that 30% of all sales take place in the last two months of the year and some of this year’s big pre-Christmas releases including 'Bruno' (Universal Pictures), 'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' (Warner Home Video), 'Ice Age 3' (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment), 'Terminator: Salvation' (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), 'Tinker Bell' (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) and 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' (Paramount Home Entertainment) are expected to perform extremely well on DVD and Blu-ray.

The BVA points to industry research conducted at the end of last year by TNS, indicating that, while 72% of consumers felt that they would have significantly less disposable income in 2009, with 31% strongly agreeing, most respondents (98%) said they would be actively seeking out promotions and offers.

Story filed 06.07.09