Apple, Xbox dominate digital delivery
DIGITAL: Market will grow to $2 billion in 2013, Screen Digest says
By Marcy Magiera -- Video Business, 9/15/2009
SEPT. 15 | DIGITAL: LOS ANGELES—Apple’s iTunes clearly dominates purchases of digital movies and TV shows in the U.S., but when it comes to Internet video-on-demand or digital rentals, Xbox Live is a strong challenger, said Screen Digest analyst Arash Amel, speaking today at the Entertainment Merchants Assn.’s Digital Media Pipeline conference.
Amel, Screen Digest’s research director for digital media, forecast that global revenue for digital formats will grow to $2 billion in 2013, from about $500 million this year. U.S. revenue in the first half of the year was about $140 million, he said, with “significant growth in electronic sell-through.”
In EST, or download-to-own, Apple dominates in the U.S. with 82% market share in the first half of 2009, down from 86% a year earlier. In VOD, or digital rentals, however, Apple claims only 52% market share, with Xbox Live at No. 2 with 31%. Amel predicted Xbox will gain more market share when it refreshes its service this fall. No other service has a significant share, though Amazon and Blockbuster are among those at the head of the trailing pack.
Both EST and digital VOD are overwhelmingly driven by new releases, Amel said.
