At PEVE 2011, IHS Screen Digest gave an in-depth industry outlook on key issues which will define the future of the home entertainment industry. Re:fine captured key highlights, covering the future of Europe’s online video and Blu-ray, DVD, online movie market, 3D and Video on Demand (VOD).

• Europe’s online video and Blu-ray markets are finally growing fast enough to stabilise the market and offset falling DVD sales. “Let’s not forget this is a billion dollar industry and it’s not doom and gloom,” said Henry McGee, President, HBO Home Entertainment, speaking at a conference. “ This”, said McGee, “indicates consumers are watching more films than ever”.
• “A major development on DVD/Blu-ray market will be the availability of two packages for movie and TV releases,” said Yives Reed, Sales Director at re:fine.  “A ‘No Frills’ product – duplicated on demand – and a collector’s edition. This is to satisfy a trend in consumption and also to play towards the traditional strength of DVD/Blu-ray being a great gift.” Reed went on to say “Ultraviolet had a real buzz around it at PEVE, offering a digital locker solution. The UV code will be bundled with Blu-ray product or purchased from an online retailer. This will give consumers access to their content in the cloud with the advantage of buy once and play content back on any device.”
• According to IHS Screen Digest, DVD rental is in free fall, with annual transactions across Europe having fallen by double digits ever since 2006; in 2010 there were only 349 million DVD rental transactions in Europe, or half of the number of transactions in 2005. According to re:fine’s Reed, “online rental of movies is proving more popular than download to own model. This market trend will spread from the US, eliminating high street retailers and accelerating adoption of digital distribution.”
• The analyst house also estimates the online movie market will almost double over the next four years, rising to an estimated €195 million this year and to €373 million in 2014. Half of online movie transactions will come from the online movie stores controlled by major vendors and games consoles such as Apple (iTunes Store), Sony (PS3 games consoles) and Microsoft (Xbox games consoles). Further, IHS Screen Digest believes telcos and ISPs are well prepared to handle enough bandwidth to stream near-DVD quality films, supporting its optimistic view with the fact that ISPs are not only developing their infrastructure but also improving their backhaul networks for future increases in traffic.
• PEVE 2011 reported a slow adoption of 3D TVs. However, total box office revenue from 3D content doubled in 2010. Despite initial challenges, studios continue to explore various commercial models to exploit the 3D opportunity. For example, they have already started departing from lucrative bundling deals with consumer electronics vendors, adopting a broader retail strategy.
• The traditionally sceptical outlook for Video on Demand (VOD) may be changing. With hyper-competition and even more free VOD business models emerging, market participants at PEVE expect VOD to finally take off, with predictions that VOD content has to be paid for, either by the end consumer via pay per view (PPV) or subscription; by an operator as anti-churn weapon; or by an advertiser. However, despite positive current outlook, business models and in particular VOD revenues, will very much depend on competition coming from over-the-top (OTT) players.
• Finally, another major development will be “the future of displays,” said Reed.  “They will be getting thinner, flexible and controllable either by touch or proximity. This will, fundamentally expand opportunities for content owners in mobiles, digital signage, shop fronts, education and 3D applications.”