US home entertainment grew 21% in 2024, discs down 23%

The home entertainment market is now more than 7 times bigger than the box office in the US, as it hit $57.17 billion in 2024. Disc sales continued to slide, dropping below $1 billion.

The home entertainment market remains primarily driven by subscription streaming services such as Disney+, Apple TV+, Max and Netflix. This segment grew by 25.3% last year, according to the annual report for 2024 by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG) and market research firm Omdia.

- "Overall U.S. consumer spending across digital and physical home entertainment formats in 2024 was almost $57.2 billion, a 21 percent increase from the more than $47 billion consumers spent in 2023, driven largely by the continued growth of subscription streaming (SVOD)," DEG said in its report.


Box office declines continue
Meanwhile, the US box office continues its decline, down 15.8% in 2024 to $7.53 billion, compared to $8.94 billion in 2023, according to the report.

In other words, the home entertainment segment in the US is now more than seven times bigger than the box office, not counting TV channels and free ad-supported streaming. In 2012, home entertainment sales were only around 65% higher than box office sales.


Disc sales drop below $1 billion
For the first time, sales of physical discs – DVD, Blu-ray, and UHD Blu-ray – dropped below the $1 billion mark in the US after a 23.4% year-over-year decline, down from over $16 billion at the peak in 2005.

 Source: DEG
The drop would be even steeper if you were to include the disc rental market, which has virtually disappeared after Netflix and Redbox exited the market. The DEG is no longer reporting numbers for disc rentals.

 Also read: The State of Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2024

Sales of DVD, Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray discs all declined in 2024. While UHD Blu-ray is indeed capturing a growing share of a rapidly shrinking disc market, sales of UHD Blu-ray discs have declined almost every year since 2018, as shown in the graph by FlatpanelsHD contributor Yoeri Geutskens on his Ultra HD Blu-ray feed on X.

- "Being less dependent on the theatrical slate, collectibles ran counter to the trend, however, as 4K UHD catalog releases held stable with 2023 and spending on titles in premium Steelbook packaging grew. Studio insights show that holiday catalog titles performed strongly, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), The Grinch (2018) and Home Alone (1990), as did older franchises drafting on new installments in theaters during 2024, including Beetlejuice (1988), Dune (2021), Inside Out (2015), and Twister (1996)," said the DEG.

Sales of digital movies via storefronts such as Apple TV and Fandango (Vudu) also declined 10.2% in 2024, while digital rentals were down 2.8% year-over-year.


 Graph: Yoeri Geutskens