Blu-ray Disc Sales Surpass One Million

The Blu-ray Disc Association has announced that its high definition format is the first to sell more than one million discs, a milestone it has achieved in less than a year. Blu-ray Disc sales also accounted for 70 percent of the high-definition movies sold during the first quarter of 2007, according to sales figures published by Home Media Research.

Blu-ray Disc titles accounted for eight of the top ten selling high definition titles in the first quarter of this year and since the introduction of both high definition formats, seven of the top ten selling high definition movies are on Blu-ray Disc.

“Sales of Blu-ray Disc titles have taken off since the first of the year,” said Andy Parsons, Chairman of the Blu-ray Disc Association’s U.S. Promotion Committee and Senior Vice President New Product Development at Pioneer Electronics. “Blu-ray Discs have been outselling HD DVD by more than two to one since the beginning of the year and the gap is steadily widening. It’s exactly what we’ve said all along would happen - the strong support for Blu-ray among movie studio and equipment manufacturers means that consumers have more choices when it comes to players and titles. And they’re choosing Blu-ray by an ever-increasing margin.”

This is the latest string of announcements in the ongoing format war between Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD. Last week, the North American HD DVD Promotional Group revealed at the format’s first birthday party that more than 100,000 dedicated HD DVD players have sold in the U.S. in its first year since the format’s introduction to the market.