US Consumers 'More Aware Of Blu-Ray'

Forty-five per cent of HDTV owners in the US now say that they are familiar with Blue-ray disc, market research company, the NPD Group has revealed.
The latest figure represents a 10% increase from June 2007.
NPD also found that while only 6% of all consumers surveyed said they plan to purchase a BD device in the next six months, the researchers found purchase intent to be higher among the growing population of HDTV owners. They said that this boded well for the future of the format.
The '2008 Blu-ray Disc Report' revealed that 9% if HDTV owners planned to buy a BD-capable in the next six months. Russ Crupnick, Entertainment Industry Analyst for NPD, said: "With HDTV's now in approximately 40 million US households, that percentage translates to a pool of almost 4 million potential BD player buyers."
Nevertheless, NPD said that manufacturers still face challenges. Although HD-DVD is no longer a competitive threat, many consumers are content with standard-definition DVD players and content.
The leading reasons cited as barriers to purchase were a perceived high cost of BD players and a belief that standard-definition DVD is "good enough".
The researchers found that consumers who purchased a BD set-top player cited "leading-edge technology" and a "superior viewing experience" as primary reasons for making the purchase. And they also indicated a clear preference for BD content. In fact, the research found that current BD set-top player owners expect that 80% of their upcoming purchases will be in BD rather than standard DVD.
By comparison, 43% of PS3 owners use the BD capability in their consoles at least once a month. However, researchers found they do not view BD movies as often as set-top device owners do.
Crupnick said: "The door is open for studios to feed the consumer's appetite for Blu-ray content, and we expect sales to increase, as prices for hardware and software moderate in the coming months. Even so, it will take a concerted effort by manufacturers and retailers to ratchet awareness even further and convince all of those potential buyers of the superiority of Blu-ray Disco versus standard DVD."
(KMcA)