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BDA: UHD Blu-ray Exceeds Expectations
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CULVER CITY, Calif. — With the one-year anniversary of the first Ultra High-Def (UHD) Blu-ray Disc right around the corner, Victor Matsuda, chair of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s (BDA) promotions committee put the state of the format pretty simply: “UHD Blu-ray has performed beyond expectations.”
Sitting down with the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) Nov. 3 on the Sony Pictures lot, Matsuda and Don Eklund, SVP of new format promotion for Sony, gave a run-down of where the next-gen (and possibly last) physical disc format was at in its lifecycle.
Since the first UHD Blu-rays were released in February, nearly one million copies of the nearly 90 titles available have been sold, representing more than $25 million in consumer spending. That’s the good news. However, while consumers have snapped up nearly 10 million 4K TVs, according to recent data from DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, only around 80,000 standalone UHD Blu-ray players have been sold. That number doesn’t include sales of the recently released Xbox One S, which includes a UHD Blu-ray drive.
Matsuda isn’t worried: Only a handful of standalone players are currently in the market, Sony and Onkyo both have players waiting in the wings, the Xbox One S is in its infancy, and you can bet January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will see a bevy of new players announced.
“Everybody’s happy with what we’ve seen so far,” Matsuda said. “It’s been very robust.”
He noted that, according to a survey by Futuresource Consulting, for the first time ever, consumers are listing 4K UHD as their No. 1 wanted feature when it comes to shopping for a TV. And if 4K is the priority for TVs, 4K Blu-ray can ride that coattail. Additionally, because movie retailers like Vudu and Amazon are pushing 4K streaming content, UHD Blu-ray players can serve as the “swiss army knife,” capable of pushing all the 4K content to the living room screen, Matsuda added.
But Eklund did throw out a note of caution: more manufacturers need to get more players to market, and better consumer education needs to happen as well. The BDA is working on that, with more marketing online and at retail.
