Video Business: The worst recession in decades took its toll on U.S. home entertainment spending in 2008, as it did on virtually every consumer goods category.
Although not proving recession-proof, the home entertainment industry did show some resilience, with consumer spending on rentals and purchases of DVD and Blu-ray Disc falling a relatively moderate 5.7%.
Consumer purchases on both formats slid 8.5% to $14.1 billion, with Blu-ray’s exponential sales growth unable to fully counterbalance slippage of more than 10% in DVD sales.
Blu-ray sales represented about $750 million in 2008, according to studio estimates.
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