A new report is showing that unlike in the US, Blu-ray Disc movies and players are not catching on internationally.

Screen Digest, based in London, found that of those that purchased  a Blu-ray player or Sony PlayStation 3 by the end of 2009, only 1.5 Blu-ray movies were bought . The figures were partially blamed on the Global Recession and the European  Austerity Packages  . But even with these trends taken into circumstance, overall  purchasing is lower than expected.

2009 total consumer spending on packaged media slumped  2.9% to $17.1 billion.

With people more apt to buy discount dvds sales of more pricey items like Blu-Rays have fallen in harder hit areas like Europe.

In direct contrast, 2009 sales of Blu-ray movies increased 70% in the United States, generating over $1.5 billion in revenue according to The Digital Entertainment Group.

Helen Davis Jayalath, Screen Digest top  video analyst states , “The failure of the Blu-ray format to capture enough of the foreign market in 2009 means this downward trend is now set to continue, with the short-term uplift in video spending that we had previously expect to see in 2010-2011 now unlikely to materialize.”

Screen Digest is forecasting  International consumer spending on dvd/Blu-ray movies to slump  to $14.5 billion by 2014, an average turn down of 3.5% every 12 months  . It also seems to imply  that Blu-ray movies will bear the brunt of this dip  .

“For many people, it seems, dvd remains ‘good enough’ for most titles and the additional cost of opting for a hi-def BD version simply cannot be justified in the current climate of austerity,” the report concluded. The increased bearing of discount dvds puts more pressure on the Blu-Ray market.

The report seemed to minimize data which displayed  that the European  dvd/Blu-ray market saw a 2.3% overall sales rise  to $1.9 billion in the first quarter of 2010. It stated that  strong local conditions and a strong first quarter offering from Hollywood was origination to the increase; not a overall fortifying in the sector.

“As long as deep discounting of the standard-definition format by the supermarkets continues, Blu-ray adoption in Europe will continue to be slow because the price differential is simply too large for most consumers to justify in today’s climate of austerity,” Davis Jayalath said .