Spending on high definition Blu-ray disc software in 2008 reached a market value of €196,898,644, which represents a year-on-year growth in software sales of 355% versus 2007.
From a unit perspective, Blu-ray Disc sales increased five-fold, growing from 1.7 million units in 2007 to almost 8.5 million units in 2008, according to the DEGE figures.
The last quarter of 2008 was particularly strong, buoyed by some big releases and a growing consumer market thanks to an increase in BD players.
The number of households with an HD TV reached 63.6% in the UK, far higher than the 41.8% figure across the whole of Europe.
While in the world of hardware sales there are now over 2.1 million Blu-ray capable machines in the UK – including the PlayStation3 – and over 6.7 million units in Europe.
And the signs for the future are good: in December 2008, 95,664 standalone Blu-ray players were sold in the UK alone. Let's hope it's onwards and upwards for the HD format...