NPD: Blu-ray Player And DVD Sales Jump In Pandemic

April 30, 2020

Sales of DVD and Blu-Ray players were both up 27% in unit sales for the week ended April 18 compared to the same week last year, according to data from the NPD Group.

“Sales are up as consumers stay at home and look for multiple forms of entertainment,” said NPD analyst Stephen Baker. “These include DVDs and Blu-ray discs to entertain children while their parents are working, backup access devices if Internet access is challenged by streaming, or simply the consumers’ realization that they may need a physical disc player as an alternative to streaming and either they didn’t already have one or the one they do have needs an upgrade.”

Meanwhile, streaming player sales jumped 42%.

Overall, NPD tracked U.S. Consumer Tech sales increased 23% year-over-year (29% week-over-week) during the week ending April 18 to nearly $1.8 billion. This topped the 21% increase tracked during the week ending March 21 sales spike.

“We saw broad-based increases across almost all categories, unlike in March, when the work-from-home categories dominated,” Baker said.