PRE-RECORDED DVDs: A CONTINUING GROWTH TREND

The DVD software market in Australia, valued at over $1.1bn and selling just over 60.6m units for the year ending July 2007, continues to perform extremely well, with growth rates for units and value at 24% and 14% respectively. Average prices continue to decline, down $1.6 to $18.5. In the DVD software market Christmas remains the most important selling period, with December generally accounting for 20% of the market’s annual value.

Over 84% of the market’s value is derived from movies and television series, growing by 16% in value terms.  Movie growth was driven by the strength of animated titles released onto DVD over the last 12 months, such as Cars, Happy Feet, Ice Age 2 and Over The Hedge, as well as the increased product offering of movie bundles.  Bundles now account for 17% of movie value, witnessing 70% growth in comparison to last year.  This growth was mainly driven by large box sets, such as James Bond, Indiana Jones and The Godfather.

The strongest performing category, which continues to drive the market’s value, is still TV Series, generating $302m in the year ending July 2007.  Even though value continues to perform very strongly, it is showing signs of slowing down, with growth rates declining to 20% for the year ending July, compared to 25% for the same period last year.  There is plenty of variety for consumers to choose from in this category, with over 550 different TV Series titles available for purchase in the last 12 months.  The top three performers were Family Guy, Stargate & Scrubs. 

The music category experienced the most significant under-performance in value, with a decline of 5%, despite a 13% increase in units.  The average music title has seen a price decline of $3.6.

The average price decline of DVDs has accelerated slightly this year, due to the increased retail catalogue activity in the market place.  The average price of a DVD over the last 3 years has fallen by 14% or $2.9.  From a price band perspective approximately 71% of all DVDs sold in Australia , were priced under $20.  This increases to 82% when looking solely at movie sales, due to the concentration of movie product priced in the $8-$13 price band.     

For further information, please contact:

Simon Perks                               GfK Australia                         02 9900 2867