Worldwide spending on watching movies last year reached $62.4 billion, up from $61.1 billion in 2011 and $60.1 billion in 2010, according to IHS Screen Digest. The numbers include theatrical releases, disc rentals, pay TV VOD and digital retail purchases and rentals. North America accounted for 41 percent of global movie revenue in 2012, although spending on physical media saw a decline.

“The increase was due in part to higher demand of locally-produced movie content in Asia Pacific, especially in countries such as India and China, in addition to 3D releases,” reports Home Media Magazine.

In the U.S., “box office increased 6.5 percent to $10.8 billion from $10.1 billion, while ticket sales increased 6.4 percent to more than 1.3 billion, according to boxofficemojo.com. Yet, among the top 20 studio releases, 65 percent ticket sales came from foreign box offices, which was down 2 percent from 2011.”

North America represented the largest consumption by region with spending at about $80 per capita in 2012. “As in Western Europe, spending on physical media declined, offset by increases on spending on digital platforms and in cinemas,” notes the article.

“As expected, consumer spending on movies — either purchased or rented on physical discs — declined from $24.4 billion in 2011 to $23.7 billion in 2012, down 3 percent. The global decline is forecast to continue for both DVD and Blu-ray purchases and rentals, with rentals projected to overtake physical purchase as the second-largest generator of worldwide consumer spending on movies.”

Packaged media revenue is expected to top 31 percent of worldwide consumption through 2016.

Video-on-demand and digital rentals from services including iTunes outpaced digital movie purchases, as total consumer spending on renting and purchasing via digital platforms continued its growth to $4.9 billion.

“This trend, along with the increased dominance of lower-value rental transactions, will result in physical media struggling to maintain its share of worldwide movie spending,” suggests Tania Loeffler, analyst for video at IHS Screen Digest.