Company: Columbia/TriStar.
Date: February 2000.
Subject: DVD Sales Figures February 2000.

AUSTRALIA’S DVD CHRISTMAS BOOM 
EXCEEDS INDUSTRY EXPECTATIONS

Australians are converting to DVD at a historically, rapid rate. No other home entertainment technology including colour TV, VCRs or CDs has enjoyed this same pace of growth, said Michele Garra, Managing Director of leading DVD distributors, Columbia TriStar Home Video.

Prior to Christmas l999, media, marketing and industry experts predicted that the new home entertainment experience would be big, however, they never predicted it would be this big.  Record DVD software sales over December and January document Australia’s DVD explosion.

By the end of last year, player penetration had reached in excess of 100,000 Australian homes, 1,000,000 software units had been sold and over 720 titles were available on the market.  Australia is on track to follow the United States’ DVD trend where in the week ending January 9, DVD sales equated to 25 per cent of VHS sales!

Key industry player, Columbia TriStar Home Video, who has fully embraced the technology of DVD software from the start, are now enjoying the benefits of this burgeoning market.  Over a ten-month period, Columbia’s own DVD sales have multiplied ten fold with over 73,000 discs shipped in December 1999 alone.

Michele Garra, Managing Director of Columbia TriStar Home Video, said

In an incredibly short time frame, DVD has exceeded our wildest expectations.

The public want outstanding quality in their home entertainment and they are particularly responding to the special features included with the movies.  I don’t think it is a novelty, I think they are in love with DVD, continued Ms Garra.

DVD enthusiasts and industry players are unanimous in the superiority of the DVD product.

Titles from the Columbia TriStar DVD range, for example, include recent big screen hits, together with unique extra features along side stunning visuals and digital sound.  Columbia TriStar is also Australia’s distributor for Universal Studios’ DVD titles which includes such popular, contemporary classics as Shakespeare In Love and this week’s American Pie.

The success of the DVD Usergroup website, which was set up through a collaboration of all key industry hardware and software players and is sponsored by Columbia TriStar, is further proof of DVD’s growing popularity.  On a weekly basis, over 40,000 pages are viewed by DVDUsergroup members.