Revenue from digital platforms are up 24 percent for the first six months of 2013, as an increasing number of consumers are turning to online options for entertainment. While overall disc sales, including DVD and Blu-ray, declined 4.7 percent for the same period, revenue generated from Blu-ray discs are up 15 percent. According to the Digital Entertainment Group, consumer spending on home entertainment grew more than 2 percent to $8.6 billion.

“Blu-ray, in particular, saw gains from new releases, which were up 19 percent during the first half of the year, while older catalog titles rose 8 percent over the same frame a year ago,” reports Variety. “Consumers bought more than five million Blu-ray compatible devices during the first six months. There are now more than 61 million Blu-ray players in U.S. homes.”

“Studios are especially encouraged by revenue from digital platforms, which increased 24 percent for the first six months of the year to earn more than $3 billion,” notes the article.

While rental revenue — including digital rentals, subscription-based disc rentals, rental from physical stores and kiosks — all declined, there were significant increases in other home entertainment sectors. For example, sales from electronic sell through titles rose more than 50 percent to $491 million; subscription-based streaming revenue rose 32 percent to nearly $1.5 billion; and video-on-demand was up 6.9 percent to nearly $1.1 billion.

In addition, “UltraViolet now counts 13 million subscribers and over 10,000 film and TV titles available to watch on a variety of devices,” explains Variety. “UltraViolet is now available in six countries, with Australia and New Zealand recently backing the digital locker.”