Digital media to reshape the entertainment industry’s supply chain

July 4, 2007 – Digital media promises the greatest sales growth for the entertainment industry in coming years, according to a survey carried out by technology consultants Capgemini at the Entertainment Supply Chain Conference Academy (ESCA) this week.

According to the survey’s findings, the primary channels for growth and innovation in the industry are next generation physical DVDs (42%), multi-platform bundling (30%) and on-demand manufacturing (16%).  Mark Landry, Vice President of Capgemini North America’s Telecom, Media and Entertainment unit, commented: “This survey shows the home entertainment supply chain is evolving to deliver DVDs and Internet based programming in a seamless fashion to consumers.  Distributors and retailers are beginning to use technology as an enabler to provide access to content across any channel to any device.  This digital convergence will make the entertainment industry think about supply chains in entirely different ways.”

Among other findings of the survey, 18% of respondents believed digital delivery would be the technology with the greatest impact on home entertainment supply chains in the next two years, compared to nearly 36% for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and 25% for manufacturing on-demand.  Devendra Mishra, Conference Chairman of ESCA, added: “While digital media is not new, the impact of this delivery system on the supply chain is new and significant.  This survey shows the entertainment industry must simultaneously enhance the present consumer experience in store while preparing for the future when consumers procure, store and watch entertainment digitally.”  29% of respondents also indicated that they believed competition between physical and digital media would have the most impact on the home entertainment supply chain.