Blu-ray leads HD player sales in first half of January

EXTRA ! EXTRA ! Grass is green !

Chicago (IL) – Recent HD player sales data provided by market research firm NPD point to bad month for the HD DVD camp : Blu-ray extended its market share to 93% in the second week of the month up from a virtual tie with HD DVD in the first week.

The dynamics in the high-def format battle are getting a bit more serious with more people watching and decisions by content publishers showing their effect. According to unit sale estimates published by NPD, 21,770 Blu-ray players were sold in the week ending January 12. Only 1758 HD DVD players were sold in the same time frame.

Media reports suggested that these numbers could be a direct result of the effects of Warner’s announcement to back Blu-ray exclusively : During the first week of January, when the announcement was made, Blu-ray Disc player sales hit 15,257 units, while HD DVD stood at 14,558.