Good news for the home entertainment industry. The 2013 figures are in and the Digital Entertainment Group has announced a second annual year of growth for electronic sell-through and video-on-demand. EST (now referred to as Digital HD) was up 50 percent for the year, topping $1 billion for the first time. VOD rose 5 percent over 2012 to $2.1 billion. Spending on digital copies of television and movie titles was up 1 percent to $18.2 billion in total revenue.

“New platforms such as Comcast’s digital movie sellthrough service and Target Ticket, plus media hub consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4, were all positive factors offsetting continued decline in physical disc sales,” reports Broadcasting & Cable. “Overall digital content spending rose 17 percent, with streaming subscriptions (excluding bundled SVOD services) gaining 32 percent to reach almost $3.2 billion.”

“Another driver is growth of HDTV sales,” notes the article. “More than 38 million of the units were purchased in 2013, bringing overall penetration to more than 96 million U.S. households, according to numbers compiled by the DEG with input from retail tracking sources.”

The consortium also noted during CES that there are now 15 million UltraViolet accounts.

In November, DEG and the Consumer Electronics Association announced a collaboration to develop and promote Ultra HD TVs, compatible products and 4K content for the home entertainment industry.