• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Market SizeThe French market for entertainment software has declined by 14.6% in 2003 to €2.5 billion due to the increasing trend of free music downloading on Internet by the general public.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Market SectorsOf the main sectors under review, CDs formed the largest sector, accounting for 64.3% of the market in 2003.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Share of MarketThe French market for entertainment software is dominated by the French subsidiaries of large multinational companies.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Marketing ActivityAdvertising for pre-recorded music and video software formats was worth around €150 billion in 2003.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Corporate OverviewIn 2003, Universal Music Group, which is a Vivendi Universal subsidiary, has suffered from sales losses due to the increasing access of free music on Internet.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Sony CorporationSony Corporation's turnover in 2003 reached ¥6.9 billion representing a slight decline on the previous year.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Aol Time WarnerAmerica Online merged with Time Warner in January of 2001 to form AOL Time Warner.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Universal Music GroupUniversal Music Group leads the music industry in global sales with revenues for the fiscal year 2003 at €5.0 billion, recording a strong decrease of 20.8% on 2002.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Bertelsmann GruppeTurnover for 2003 amounted to €16.8 billion, a decrease of 8.3% on the previous year.
Net profits were €1,123 million, up a healthy 20% on 2002 figures.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: DistributionHypermarkets and supermarkets generated 56% of total sales in 2003, thereby establishing themselves as the leading distributors of pre-recorded CDs, tapes and records.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Consumer ProfileCDs are becoming increasingly popular, with 56% of consumers purchasing them in favor of tapes or records.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Market ForecastsThe market is expected to recover after a couple of years of strong decline: sales are expected to reach their 2003 in 2008 as the industry is hoped to find a solution to Internet free sales.

• Pre-Recorded Music and Video Software Formats: Sector ForecastsCompact discs are set to retain the biggest share of the market, with an expected share of 57.5% in 2008 despite strong losses in terms of market shares.