INTELECT Projects Strong DVD Sales

26-Apr-00

At the PARA conference, INTELECT demonstrated a presentation on DVD sales. The presentation included a new sales projection for DVD. Several months ago, they forecasted an eight-million unit ""sell-through"" during 2000. This was based on sales history through December 1999. Adding a strong ""sell-through"" in January and February, plus building sales of TV/VCR/DVD Combinations, we see a strong possibility that United States sales of DVD players will exceed ten million units, which would more than triple 1999's three million units. They are not alone in this optimistic projection. Estimates of as many as 12 million ""Sell-In"" sales of DVD players were presented at the International Recording Media Association's annual forum held last month in California. The Consumer Electronics Association, CEA, estimates DVD ""sell-in"" considerably lower at 6.4 million. CEA recently announced that 1.18 million DVD-Video players were shipped to retail in the first quarter 2000. As a guide, the first quarter averaged 21 percent of annual VCR ""sell-in"" sales to dealers. The DVD sales rate is accelerating while VCR has been relatively stable. DVD software sales are also strong, another positive indication. According to DVDinsider.com, VideoScan's ""First Alert Reporting Retailers"" indicates a total of 10,533,000 DVD software items sold through April 9, 2000 since the first of the year. There are nearly 6,000 titles now available. The DVD Entertainment Group predicts that number to grow to more than 8,500 by the end of 2000. Lifetime DVD sales reported by INTELECT are 4,458,000 units indicating a saturation rate of over 4 percent in United States homes. This will jump to over 12 percent by year-end. However, DVD sales are expected to be strong through the gift-oriented late spring season of graduations, weddings and Father's Day. The ""test"" of DVD's sales strength will be in the summer months of July and August.Source: DVDinsider.com