Consumers spent a record $21.2 billion renting and buying DVDs in 2004, according to year-end report by The Digital Entertainment Group.
Including music videos on DVD - the RIAA’s fastest-growing sector - DVD retail sales grew to $15.5 billion in 2004. In addition, consumers also spent $5.7 billion renting DVDs. In the fourth quarter 2004, nearly 530 million DVDs shipped to retail according to figures compiled by Kaplan, Swicker and Simha on behalf of the DEG. This is a 39 percent increase over the same period in 2003. More than 1.5 billion software units shipped throughout 2004, bringing the total number of units shipped since launch to nearly four billion. There are currently some 29,000 DVD titles available across a wide variety of genres.
The DEG estimates that more than 80 percent of U.S. households will have at least one DVD player by the end of 2005.
For more information, visit www.degonline.org .
