Home-entertainment products are normally assumed to enjoy higher sales during a downturn, as consumers spend more time indoors and enjoy online games and DVDs and VCDs.
However, Oraphan Monphichit Pavaravadhana, vice president – acquisition and distribution at Rose Media & Entertainment, said the company’s sales of VCD and DVD movies are expected to drop by between 60 and 70 per cent this year, due to economic factors and continuous piracy problems, including the increased availability of pirated VCDs and DVDs and a jump in illegal downloads.
Rose Media’s sales of cartoon VCDs and DVDs are expected to decline by at least 50 per cent this year, she said.
This follows the trend in other markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Taiwan, where home-entertainment industries have been dominated by new digital media.
Read More about this topic : Big rise in piracy hits DVD-makers .
