Blu-ray Winning In Europe November 28, 2007

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According to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), movies sales have topped 1 million in Europe and that it is outselling HD DVD by a factor of 2:1.

Of course, HD DVD were crowing recently that HD DVD player owners buy almost four times more HD movies than Blu-ray player owners.

Considering Gfk sales tracking results are being used for both camps' statements you’d be forgiven for being a bit confused and thinking that maybe they are cherry picking results to make themselves look good. The BDA is adamant though that HD DVD folk have been telling porkies.

"The facts are simple: whenever the consumer has a choice, they decide overwhelmingly in favour of Blu-ray Disc," commented Frank Simonis, Chairman of the BDA European Promotions Committee. "According to Gfk, in Europe, Blu-ray Disc movie titles have outsold HD-DVD movie titles by 2 to 1 during the year to date, and by 3 to 1 since PS3's launch in March. The trend is clear: customers continue to buy more Blu-ray Disc movies than HD-DVD movies, and that is what counts. Viewing attach rates in isolation is an inaccurate and crude measure of performance."

Anyway, the Gfk figures give Blu-ray a whopping 73% of the market, leaving HD DVD with just 27%. If true, then Blu-ray is winning in Europe like it is in the US. Tune in next week for another episode of ‘Massaging Statistics: How To Win When You’re Losing’.-Martin Lynch

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