France's packaged media sales totaled €439.86 million in the first half of 2013 - down from €495 million in the same period last year. The overall 12.5% fall is attributed to a 15.8% drop in consumer spending on DVD to €341.52 million. Blu-ray disc sales, on the other hand, have been growing 1.5% to €98.33 million.

These figures from the national film support agency CNC and market analyst GfK show that, in the first half of 2013, Blu-ray accounted for 22.4% of total packaged media turnover, up from 19.3% in 1H 2012.

In terms of disc units sold, volumes went down 10.5%. Some 47.3 million discs were sold in the first six months of this year - 40.77 million DVDs (-12.4%) and 6.53 million Blu-ray discs (+3.9%). Over the last 12 months the total number of disc sold dropped 7.9% to 114.41 million units.

The retail price of new DVD titles remained essentially stable at €17.15 (-0.6%). Interesting, the average price of catalogue titles rose 3.1% to €8.31. The DVD segment in the €17-€20 bracket represented the largest slice of total turnover in 1H 2013 - 21.1% - compared to 25.8% in 1H 2012. In volume terms, €3-€8 DVDs accounted for the largest market share - 35.3% - compared to 39.5% last year.

The average retail price of a new Blu-ray title was €22.79 in the first half of the year - a 2.4% rise over the same period last year. The price of BD catalogue titles rose 5.4% to €12.92. Blu-ray discs in the €20-€25 bracket accounted for the largest segment of the format' turnover - 27.7%. In volume, the largest slice - 31.1% - was constituted by €10-€13 BD discs.

Story filed 19.07.13