Home Theatre Grows Six Percent In First Half Of 1999

The primary home entertainment experience today is delivered by a quality home theatre system. The almost 20 million American households that own a home theatre system know that the experience will send you ducking for cover as a Lear jet screams by overhead, and will put you right in the middle of the action at your favorite sporting event. The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) reports sales to dealers of home theatre products rose six percent to $3.9 billion during the first half of the year, from $3.6 billion during the first six months of last year. The introduction of the home theatre concept has been a key element in offering consumers a wider range of options for customizing personal entertainment, and these choices have been especially helpful to American families looking for ways to spend more time together. Video products within this category rose eight percent in the first half of 1999, and although the audio side of the category dropped six percent, there was significant growth within the category from sales of surround sound receivers. During the second quarter alone, dollar volume for surround sound receivers jumped 14 percent, putting year-to-date sales five percent ahead of last year, with industry revenues of $196 million for the first six months of the year. The year's home theatre increase is boosted also by sales of high-value video products: sales of projection televisions grew six percent in the first half of the year to $645 million, and DVD sales continue to be phenomenal. Sales of DVD-Video players represents about ten percent of total revenues from the home theatre products, an enormous increase over the three percent of last year, and given its relatively new introduction.