Representing 23% of the year’s total physical sales, December 2011 had its best performance since 2003, with a 31.1% increase in BD sales compared with 2010, 5% of which were 3D Blu-rays. Results show the final duo of Harry Potter films took first and second place amongst shoppers, followed closely by The Inbetweeners Movie. The King’s Speech, Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Kay all grabbed places in the top ten too, which you can check out in full by visiting the BVA site here.

Lavinia Carey, BVA Director General commented:

‘As we predicted, titles released in December meant the industry finished the year on a high, despite the gloomy economic situation. Like other sectors, the video industry faced a huge squeeze on consumer spending in 2011 and it has met the challenge head on by increasing the number of ways consumers can watch fantastic content and get the most for their money. Triple Play packs are a great example of this as they enable audiences to view a title in three different ways – DVD, Blu-ray, including true 3D and a digital copy – be it on different devices at the same time or at different times and places, according to the whole family’s taste.’

Visit the BVA website for further information.

The UK page Film@Home debuted in March and brings together Hollywood’s top studios including 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.

The new hub brings film fans a bite of the hottest home entertainment news and latest blockbuster trailers, as well as celebrating the wide choice of home entertainment formats on offer that can help us bring ‘that cinema feeling home’.

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association said:

‘Film@Home offers a unique proposition to consumers and Blu-ray distributors. It’s a place for the companies to showcase a range of titles and formats, highlight exclusive previews and competitions and engage in conversations with their fans. For consumers it provides some of the very best home entertainment content in one, easy to use location.’

Check it out for yourselves here.

Research from the British Video Association (BVA) looking at how best to communicate to consumers what is included in multiformat Blu-ray Disc packages has been published this week.

With some Blu-ray products now also including a DVD and/or digital copy, the BVA asked over 1,500 consumers which packaging best communicated what was in the pack as well as generating purchase interest.

The ‘Double Play’ and ‘Triple Play’ definitions, already being used on some releases, were found to perform best, in terms of both consumer understanding and expressing value for money. Simon Heller, Blu-ray Partners Campaign Director at the British Video Association, said: “The consumer needs to have utmost clarity when making a purchase and the BVA’s findings will help distributors to produce the most effective packaging as part of the marketing mix”.

The BVA aims to promote the Double Play / Triple Play packaging formula as an industry standard over the coming months, so expect to see a lot more of them in 2011.

The Gadget Show’s Jon Bentley has named Blu-ray players as his top gadget for Christmas 2010. Teaming up with the British Video Association (BVA), Jon hopes to help shoppers avoid any chance of a festive faux-pas by selecting the hottest gadget hits and misses for 2010.

On a mission to help consumers choose great gifts, the BVA asked 2,000 Brits what topped their most unwanted list. A little unorthodox you might think, but with more than a third of us (34%) set to buy loved ones a gadget this year, surely its advice worth listening to?

Electric shavers, Foot spas, Coffee Machines and Candy-Floss makers were revealed as some of the offerings most despised. Jon‚Äôs gadget shopping advice, “Purchase something that‚Äôs likely to be satisfying rather than just a gimmick, such as a console that enables you to play Blu-ray Discs and DVDs as well as games or an internet-enabled mobile phone.‚Äù

Simon Heller, a spokesman for the BVA, said: “Many of the gadget gaffs cited in our study are gifts that have a lot of novelty appeal, but perhaps a limited shelf life. A Candy-Floss maker is great for beating those Boxing Day blues, but a games console or 3D Blu-ray player are future-proof. They’re gifts you’ll go back to all year round.”

For more information and to view all Jon’s choices visit: Bva.org

Recent research by the British Video Association (BVA) has revealed that more of us prefer a night in with our technology than a night out on the town with our mates.

The online YouGov survey of more than 2000 respondents showed that half of those asked have invested in home entertainment technology for their living room in the last 2 years, with 10% of these splashing their cash on Blu-ray players.

A whopping 73% of us now spend between one and six hours a day staying in to enjoy home entertainment. Also, more than one in four of us (26%) say enjoying home entertainment is one of the most important ways we now socialise with our loved ones.

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association, said: “Improvements in home entertainment technology over the last few years have increased the appeal of that cinema experience in our own living rooms. With the World Cup earlier this year also giving HDTV a big boost, we expect to see more people than ever staying at home to enjoy HD, 3D and Blu-ray as a way to beat the winter blues.”

The British Video Association (BVA) has announced a partnership between Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video and Samsung that will see a promotional Blu-ray bundle hit UK stores ahead of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

With this year’s tournament the first to be televised in high definition, retailers are expecting a boost in demand for new HDTVs. The new bundle includes six blockbuster movies for all the family on Blu-ray Disc and a Blu-ray player, allowing consumers to kick start their collection at a fraction of the normal cost.

Blu-ray titles included in the bundle are Mamma Mia! and Bruno from Universal Pictures, Up and Toy Story from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment UK, and Sweeny Todd and 300 from Warner Home Video. The bundle is available with three Samsung BD players: the BD-C5300, BD-C8200 and BD-C8500. The latter two both include Hard Disk Drives and free-to-air HD TV compatible digital tuners.

For more details, head over to the BVA for the full announcement.

The figures demonstrate the increasingly popularity of the BD format, which is currently driving growth across the home entertainment market. Sales of Blu-ray Discs are up 69.5% (up 50% in value) on the same period in 2009, reaching 2.7m units in the first three months of the year, taking the total number of Blu-ray Discs sold to 15.6m units since launch.

Hannah Conduct, Marketing Manager at the British Video Association, said:

“While it is extremely encouraging to see such strong growth in market volumes in the run up to Easter, the performance of Blu-ray is especially impressive. Growing sales show that the benefits of the format – higher picture quality, superior sound, and an ever-expanding range of titles – are better understood than ever before. The strong sales reflect consumer confidence in Blu-ray.”

The top three best selling Blu-ray titles of the quarter saw their Blu-ray performance average at 20% of the total disc sales with The Hurtlocker at 24% (Elevation Sales), Up at 17% (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) and 2012 at 20% (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment).

The best selling Blu-ray Disc titles for Q1 2010 were as follows:

1. The Hurt Locker
2. Up
3. 2012
4. The Twilight Saga – New Moon
5. District 9
6. This Is It
7. Toy Story
8. The Taking Of Pelham 123
9. Inglourious Basterds
10. Toy Story 2

For more details, here’s the press release.

Created to raise awareness and excitement, the Blu-ray ‚ÄúWhat are you waiting for?‚Äù commercial features footage from some of the season’s most anticipated new Blu-ray Disc releases ‚Äì Terminator Salvation, Ice Age 3, Inglourious Basterds, Snow White and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ‚Äì and will be seen by 40 million UK consumers in the run up to Christmas.

The advert, which forms part of a bigger campaign, including a re-launch of the Blu-ray website thisisbluray.co.uk, will run across all major television channels throughout December.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdDFDlri2dA]

Further details can be read here.

The study of over 2,000 Brits revealed that while seven per cent of households are equipped with the latest consumer technology, including Blu-ray Disc players, almost half still own a VHS player that hasn’t been used in at least six months. In total, Britain is sitting on a huge 130,000 tonnes of redundant technology.

Gadget expert Nikki Moore said: ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs clear that Brits are a nation of hoarders, reluctant to embrace change. We all too often stick to what we know as it’s safe but as a result we end up missing out. On the one hand 11 million homes have high definition TVs yet with nearly half of the nation reluctant to ditch their VHS players people are not getting the most out of their machine and potentially downgrading their movie experience by not having a Blu-ray Disc player. The reality is that new technology has never been easier to use or more affordable. As many families prioritise value in their Christmas shopping this year, gifts like a Blu-ray Disc player, which start at less than ¬£100, are the perfect present for the whole family.‚Äù

Simon Heller from the BVA added: “While we may consider ourselves technophiles, nostalgia and fear of the unknown mean many UK homes resemble shrines to the 1990s. With more and more of us choosing to stay in at the moment, it seems that Brits are compromising their movie experience rather than enhancing it. If you really want to bring the cinema home you need to watch movies on Blu-ray Disc, which gives you an unprecedented High Definition movie experience, with five times great picture clarity and superior sound.”

Further details on the study and its findings can be read here.

The campaign, launched by the BVA on behalf of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd., Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment UK and Warner Home Video, will be spearheaded by TV advertising across all major UK channels throughout November and December, reaching an audience of over 40 million individuals.

The advertising will be supported by strategic public relations activity to boost consumer understanding and demand for the BD format, and a revamp of the Blu-ray Revolution website.

Full details on the campaign, which coincides with the release of several key BD titles for the Christmas period, can be found here.