Germany is set to become the fastest growing DVD market in Europe, according to new data collected by the national DVD trade body.

In the light of the current DVD boom, DVD-Arbeitsgemeinschaft (DVD-AG) has had to revise its forecast of the number of DVD players in German households at the end of 2002 for the second time this year:

In April, the organisation raised the predicted total from 5 million to 5.2 million, but subsequent market developments and expectations from hardware manufacturers have prompted DVD-AG to now forecast that 6.6 million players will be in private homes by the end of the year. This would represent an increase of over 135% on 2001 and be equivalent to a penetration of 18%.

In a recent report by the Informa Media Group - Global DVD - the average penetration for Europe was 10%, with the UK as the European leader with 26% penetration forecast by the end of 2002.

In the first six months of 2002, over 14 million DVDs had been sold in Germany, according to DVD-AG, thanks to such blockbusters as Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and Manitou's Shoe, and the Hamburg-based body suggested that a year-end total of 40 million units sold could be a realistic possibility due to such releases in the second half of 2002 as The Lord Of The Rings, Monster Inc., Ice Age and Spider Man.