MacsimumNews - Your Leading Apple News Alternative

Study: Blu-ray wins the format battle, but consumers don’t buy it

Posted by Dennis Sellers May 14, 2008 at 9:59am

While many people expected sales of Blu-ray disc players to spike when Toshiba decided to drop out of the high-definition HD DVD market in February 2008, according to a new Harris Poll, it seems that the recently resolved high definition format war is not motivating consumers to purchase the advanced DVD players any time soon.

The Harris Poll of 2,529 U.S. adults surveyed online between April 7 and 15, 2008 by Harris Interactive found that:

° Ownership of standard DVD players is practically ubiquitous (87 percent);

° Few report owning Blu-ray disc players (four percent), Sony PlayStation 3 (five percent), HD DVD players (six percent) and the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox (one percent have an external drive while nine percent have an Xbox 360);

° Only nine percent of non-Blu-ray player owners report being likely to purchase a Blu-ray disc player within the next year, even when made fully aware that Blu-ray is considered to be the definitive technology for high definition DVD players going forward;

° Two-thirds of consumers are familiar with the recently resolved high-definition format war (67 percent) and seven in 10 of them have heard that Blu-ray is the unofficial winner (69 percent);

° Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of those aware of the format war report that they had been waiting for the rivalry to play itself out before purchasing a high definition player, but by April they had yet to do so;

° Although one-third of consumers report owning a high definition television set (HDTV; 35 percent), with incidence higher among males (41 percent) versus females (28 percent) and rising decidedly with household income (15 percent for those with less than $35K vs. 53 percent among those with $75K+), the percentage of HDTV owners likely to purchase a Blu-ray disc player is only 14 percent;

° Current ownership of Blu-ray disc players among HDTV owners stands at 10 percent.

“Since Blu-ray disc player pricing averages more than $300, which is well above the cost for the latest generation of standard DVD players with up-converters, Blu-ray disc players may be encountering price sensitivity despite the advanced technology,” says Joan Barten Kline, vice president of the Harris Interactive Media & Entertainment Practice.

What’s more, interest in a Blu-ray disc player with Internet connectivity expected to be out in the fall in a higher price range is also lacking:

° U.S. adults are more likely to purchase a Sony PlayStation 3 that plays Blu-ray discs and has Internet access for US$399 (11 percent) or an original Blu-ray disc player without connectivity for the same price (10 percent) versus a new Blu-ray disc player with Internet for $500-$650 (four percent);

° Not surprisingly, the under 40 crowd is most likely to opt for the PlayStation 3 as their Blu-ray capable device of choice—fully 23 percent of those in the 30-39 age group are likely to purchase this device in the next year (compared to 14 percent likely to buy an original Blu-ray disc player or the new Blu-ray disc player with Internet connectivity, five percent)).

“Macsimum News” is a proud supporter of Planet Gumbo, which feeds the hungry. We urge you to help them in their efforts.