DVD News

DVD Reaches 75% Share of Home Video Rental Market!

By John Lewis Sep 16, 2004, 23:10 GMT

U.S. video rental spending for the week-ending 9/12/04 tipped the DVD market share for the first time to 75%, according to Rentrak's Home Video Essentials.Consumer spending on DVD rentals reached $98.7 million on a volume of 31.7 million DVD units turned -- compared to $32.6 million on VHS. Business intelligence from Home Video Essentials showed a (+) 20% growth in the DVD share from the same week last year (week-ending 9/14/03)."With the installed base of DVD consoles/computer drives at 76 million households,* coupled with DVD's exceptional picture, and unbounded interest in home theatre -- this year-over-year growth is of little surprise," said Brad Hackley, VP of Business Development.Based on Marvel's comic book hero, The Punisher, the John Travolta action film punished the competition -- staving off a fierce slate of major opposition from the Tom Hanks-starrer The Ladykillers, the Snoop Dogg-featured Soul Plane, and last week's dramatic debut of Mel Gibson's The Passion.Artisan's The Punisher debuted as the #1 DVD, the #1 VHS, the #1 video overall, the #1 Action video, and the #1 R-rated video for the week.