Rising demand for children’s DVD and Blu-ray has bolstered sales, according to figures issued by the British Video Association, as supplied by data from the Official Charts Company. This year to date, the total number of children’s DVDs sold has reached 12.1 million with school-age titles up by 4.3% on this time last year.

Top of the overall children’s charts are family-friendly films such as 'Madagascar – Escape 2 Africa' (Paramount Home Entertainment) with almost 900,000 copies sold since its release in April.

Another sequel high in the overall Children’s charts this year is 'Ice Age 2: the Meltdown' (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) which is selling well due to the current cinematic success of the third installment. Although released back in 2006 Ice Age 2 has sold over 330,000 copies in 2009 so far including boxset sales with Ice Age.

Pre-schoolers are also fuelling demand, with total volumes for that audience reaching 2.1 million, up 2.1% on the same period in 2008. E1 Entertainment’s Peppa Pig series dominates the top of the pre-school chart taking over the first four places with combined sales of over 320,000 copies of the brand in the Top 10.

Hannah Conduct, Marketing Manager at the BVA says: “These figures are not only great news for the younger DVD market, but also demonstrate that a new generation of home entertainment lovers is developing which is really positive for the industry. Blu-ray is emerging as a format of choice for children as well, with volumes up 145% on last year. There are some brilliant educational titles available for kids this year which is wonderful for parents, especially over the long (and quite possibly wet) holiday period.”

Story filed 24.08.09