DVD Recorder Sales Down 20% in 2009

DVD recordable technology registered sales of $6.25 billion in calendar year 2009, according to the Santa Clara Consulting Group. This figure is down from $7.68 million of revenue in 2008. DVD recorder sales influenced this decline, with unit sales changing by -20%, to 147.621 million units. Disc media sales changed by -5%, to 4.491 billion units.

DVD writers were the most important hardware category, with revenue of $3.68 billion. DVD video recorders, while much smaller in volume, had unit pricing more than eight times that of DVD writers, with revenue of $1.60 billion. In the writer segment, the market is almost exclusively one of two formats: DVD Multi (with DVD-RAM capability), with 86% of the market last year, and Dual DVD (±), with 146%.

In the DVD disc media business, revenues totaled $0.97 billion in 2009. This report reviews five DVD disc formats: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM. DVD-R was the most significant recordable DVD format in 2009, with 66% of DVD recordable disc sales, followed by DVD+R, 30%; DVD+RW, 2%; DVD-RW, 2%; and DVD-RAM, less than 1%.

DVD disc media is produced primarily in Asia, with Japan and Taiwan maintaining a large share of this business. Ritek, CMC, Optodisc, and Prodisc, all based in Taiwan, are acting as subcontractors for a number of international brands; Taiyo Yuden has manufacturing in Japan; and MCC/Verbatim continues to manufacture DVD discs, with production in Singapore. Moser Baer maintains a significant manufacturing presence for DVD recordable media in its India facilities. There are smaller regional players that have a minor influence on this market.

DVD recordable technology registered sales of $1.50 billion in Q4, a change of -2% from the previous quarter. DVD writers had sales of $911 million and 34.682 million units. DVD video recorders had sales of $361 million and 1.371 million units. DVD disc media in Q4 represented revenues of $231 million. DVD R media (DVD+R and DVD-R) had sales of 1067.869 million units, while the DVD RW segment (DVD+RW, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM) had sales of 44.605 million units for the quarter.

Entertainment levies in Europe continue to have a major impact on country sales of disc media. High-levy countries such as France, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Spain, and Hungary have seen their official markets decline because of this trend. Countries with low levies like Germany, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Andorra, Slovakia, Monaco, and San Marino export to these countries to circumvent the levies.