DVD Market Declines 5.7% in 2008

The numbers for 2008 are in and it seems that the DVD market has dropped for the second year in a row... and maybe more years to come as well. According to The Hollywood Reporter, American consumer spending in home entertainment dropped to $22.4 billion, down 5.7% from last year.

The DVD sell-through market dropped 6.3% in the past year and, while Blu-ray sell-through did make some headway, standard DVD sell-through dropped 9.5%. The numbers also indicate that the brunt of the dipping sales is coming from new releases, with a 20% drop in sales for new titles and only a 6% decline in catalog titles.

The report, from the film Sandford Bernstein, predicted that the DVD market will drop 7% in 2009, 6% in 2010 and 7% in 2011.