The home entertainment industry experienced another record quarter shipping 231.7 million DVD titles to retail in the first three months of 2003, a 93% increase over shipments in the first quarter of last year. According to figures compiled by Ernst & Young on behalf of the DVD Entertainment Group, the total number of units shipped in North America has reached nearly 1.6 billion since launch.
In addition to movies, consumer enthusiasm for the DVD format has translated into explosive growth in the variety of new titles available. Sales of episodic television on DVD have experienced nearly 123 percent growth over the first quarter last year according to Nielsen VideoScan. In addition, music, fitness, documentary and special interest DVD sales have more than doubled in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, demonstrating the format's growth beyond theatrical blockbusters and family programming. There are nearly 23,000 DVD titles currently available from all genres.
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