Adams: ‘Call to Arms’ for UltraViolet

4 Dec, 2012 By: Chris Tribbey

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BEVERY HILLS, Calif. — Tom Adams, senior principal analyst of U.S. media for IHS Screen Digest, is used to laying out the latest data for the home entertainment industry.

But at the recent Forecast: Hollywood event, he had a more opinionated presentation for the industry.

“We’re at a critical juncture and we’re going to have to do some hard thinking,” he said. “It’s really time for everyone on the distribution pipeline to get serious, get behind UltraViolet and treat it like it is: a critical part of the packaged media business.

Since its peak of $22 billion in 2004, the home entertainment industry has seen disappointing numbers year after year, Adams said. But household disc-player penetration is at 82%, physical still owns 73% of all home entertainment spending and thanks to gains in streaming and subscription VOD, the home entertainment industry could see its first year of positive, annual revenue growth since 2007.

Adams said the industry should consider the positive data as a “call to arms” to treat UltraViolet as crucial to the future of the business. He specifically pointed to Walmart and its UltraViolet-enabled disc-to-digital program, and the need for more retailers to follow suit.

Anne Arroyo, director of client development and entertainment for The NPD Group, shared data showing that play-anywhere concepts like UltraViolet are finding their places among today’s busy consumer. Consumers have an estimated 36 hours a week for leisure activities, yet they’re spending 42 hours a week on entertainment.

“The gap between the two implies a certain amount of multitasking,” she said.

Movies and TV shows take up 41% of those entertainment hours, she added. And of that video data, 51% of consumers were using physical only, 11% digital only and 31% were using both.

“The traditional content [consumption] still dominates,” said Larry Taman, VP of business development of GfK Media North America. “What’s interesting is you can see from 2010-2012, the explosion of mobile devices, and there’s no slowdown.”

That means the need for more physical-to-digital options, he said.

 

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