NPD: Consumers Coveted Blu-ray Players During Black Friday

9 Dec, 2010 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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Blu-ray Disc player sales set a record for unit volume during the Black Friday week (ended Nov. 28), up more than 50% from the same period last year, according to The NPD Group.

Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis with NPD, said more than 400,000 Blu-ray players were sold during the week as consumers gravitated toward steeply discounted models featuring Internet connectivity. The median price per unit was $113, down 23% from a median price of $145 last year.

Notably, 3D Blu-ray players accounted for 15% of the units sold.

“It was a boom time for Blu-ray players,” Baker said. “The real difference this was that the stuff promoted was relatively current product with current features.”

He said consumers are not buying connected players necessarily for Blu-ray movies but, rather, for the “whole package,” which includes streaming, downloaded music, YouTube videos and 3D.

“It is a lot more of a utilitarian product than just focused on Blu-ray movies, which I may or may not have a huge amount of interest in,” Baker said.

He said Blu-ray players are mini set-top boxes offering users a different (non-browsing) level of Web access. Players require embedded apps or firmware upgrades to access select content, such as Netflix, Pandora and YouTube.

“People love to buy stuff that gives them a whole lot of options,” Baker said. “And Netflix is pretty hot right now.”

The analyst said the fact that 3D Blu-ray players were relatively strong despite a dearth of 3D Blu-ray movies, suggests growing demand for the format.

“I think 3D Blu-ray will eventually just be Blu-ray,” Baker said. “Right now you are not seeing a lot of people demanding 3D Blu-ray, but for a slight up-charge they are going to buy one.”

Baker said 3D Blu-ray would eventually supplant Blu-ray in packaged media.

“Sooner, rather than later, the difference between 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray is going to be meaningless,” he said.

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