While sales of Blu-ray players have been down since January, consumer awareness is on the rise. According to a
new report by the NPD Group, 45% of HDTV owners in the U.S. claim to be familiar with the format. More importantly, 9% of HDTV owners
plan to buy a BD player in the next six months.
According to The NPD Group, a leading market research company, 45 percent
of HDTV owners in the U.S. now claim to be familiar with Blu-ray Disc (BD), up from 35 percent in June 2007. And, while only 6 percent of
all consumers surveyed said they plan to purchase a BD device, NPD found purchase intent to be higher among the growing population of
HDTV owners, boding well for the future of the format.
NPD's “2008 Blu-ray Disc Report” reveals that 9 percent of HDTV owners
plan to buy a BD-capable player in the next six months. “With HDTVs now in approximately 40 million US households, that percentage
translates to a pool of almost 4 million potential BD player buyers,” according to Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD.
The NPD Group also found that Blu-ray still faces a number of challenges. Along with the high cost of BD players, many
consumers believe that the DVD is “good enough.” If you'd like to read more, the NPD Group's entire press release can be found here.
