THE MARKET

The DVD is firmly established as the home entertainment format of the present and the future. In the UK there were over 88 million DVD rental transactions during 2003; a 55% increase from 2002. This has made the UK's consumer expenditure on DVD (rental and retail) second in the "Entertainment and leisure goods and services category", behind drinking and eating out.

Research by the British Video Association (BVA) has shown that the UK spends the most on DVD rental in Europe (over £1.5bn), but the automated DVD rental market is still undeveloped. In countries like Spain, Italy, France and the US there are DVD rental machines located in a large number of video stores, petrol stations, universities, convenience stores and in other well-positioned premises.

Europe's Expenditure on Video Rental

As can be seen from the graph, the UK accounts for almost a third of the entire European market. As a guide European consumers spent 12.5bn Euros (approx £7.8bn) buying and renting films during 2003. At 20% expenditure of the total European market, the UK population, over the same period spent over £1.5bn on movie rentals.