Figures from America suggest that lots of people are turning back to physical DVDs and Blu-rays during the lockdown.
Interesting news coming in from the US, as the impact of the closure of cinemas and the current lockdown continues to be felt. It’s notable that many streaming services have reduced the bitrate of their films and TV shows, and broadband lines have been put to the test. As such, there’s been a resurgence of sorts for physical media.
The NDP group in America has reported that sales of DVD and Blu-ray players each shot up by 27% in the middle of April. It came amidst a spike for all sorts of entertainment hardware, and the rise in sales of streaming players (42%) still suggests that many continue to veer away from physical formats. But undeniably, physical players have jumped.
As NPD notes, consumers are looking for lots of different types of home entertainment. “These include DVDs and Blu-ray discs to entertain children while their parents are working, backup access devices if Internet access is challenged by streaming, or simply the consumers’ realization that they may need a physical disc player as an alternative to streaming and either they didn’t already have one or the one they do have needs an upgrade”.
No official word yet on UK figures, but we’d be surprised if they didn’t mirror that spike seen in America.
Thanks to Mark Pledger for the heads up.
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