Overall U.S. Home Entertainment Content Spending ‘Flat,’ DEG Says

Overall U.S. spending on home entertainment content fell 1.2 percent in Q3 to $3.92 billion, the Digital Entertainment Group said Wednesday. That was "flat" compared with Q3 a year earlier, evidence of the industry’s "ongoing stability," the DEG said. But the Q3 decline followed a relatively healthy 2.1 percent increase in spending in Q2 (see 1408060045). Blu-ray penetration is now approaching 80 million U.S. homes, the DEG said, though sellthrough spending on all packaged goods, including DVD and Blu-ray, fell 8 percent in Q3 to $1.3 billion. Overall spending on electronic sellthrough was Q3's biggest star on a percentage-increase basis, rising 26.7 percent to $347 million and 33.2 percent for 2014's first nine months to $1.02 billion, the DEG said.