CD Software Sales Reach $151 Million in Third Quarter 1994
Sales Up 229% As Business Products Accelerate

January 9, 1995 (Washington, DC) - The Software Publishers Association
(SPA) has released its third quarter 1994 (Q3 94) figures from its CD
Software Sales Report, which tracks sales of software sold on Compact
Disks (CD). For the quarter, total sales of reporting companies were
$150.6 million, a 229% increase over the $45.7 reported for Q3 '93. For
the first three quarters of 1994, total sales were $387.2 million, a 282%
increase from $101.2 in the first three quarters of 1993. Unit sales in
the quarter were 5.88 million, a 253% increase, while unit sales for the
first three quarters were 15.6 million, up 292%.

Information for the third quarter report is based on the aggregate sales
information of the companies who participate in the SPA's CD Software
Sales Program by reporting quarterly sales information to the accounting
firm Ernst & Young, which prepares the report for the SPA. Companies
participating in the third quarter report include Br0derbund, Comptons New
Media, Microsoft, Mindscape and World Library.

For the First Time, Content Products Not the Largest Category

For the first time in the seven quarters the SPA has been tracking CD
software sales, content software was not the largest selling category in a
quarter. Games and other home products was the largest in Q3 '94, with
sales of $35.9 million (up 201%). Content software was next largest, with
sales of $30.4 million for the quarter (up 64%). Content software was the
largest category for the first three quarters, however, with sales of
$104.7 million (up 120%) compared with $80.4 million (up 261%) for games
and other home software.

Business Products the Fastest Growing

While the consumer-oriented categories remain the largest in the Q3 report,
the categories with business-oriented products had the fastest growth.
Languages & tools products sales in Q3 '94 were $27.2 million, a 665%
increase from Q3 '93. A strong increase in sales of business-oriented
products included in "other products" category caused that categories'
sales to jump 547% in Q3 '94, to $32.7 million.

"This quarter's growth of 253% is somewhat lower than the growth rates seen
in the first two quarters of 1994," said David Tremblay, SPA Research
Director. "However, it is still well above the 11% growth recorded for the
software industry overall. The CD segment remains a dynamic and fast
growing segment of the industry, and the appeal of distributing and buying
software on CD is broadening. CD software isn't just shoot-'em-ups and
encyclopedias. It increasingly includes business products like programming
tools and productivity applications. While businesses still trail
consumers in their adoption of CD technology, CD sales in the business
categories this quarter clearly indicate an acceleration of business' use
of software on CDs."

The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade association of
the PC software industry. Its 1,100 members represent the leading
publishers in the business, consumer, and education markets. The SPA has
offices in Washington, DC, and Paris, France. SPA press releases are
available on-line through CompuServe (GO:SPAFORUM), and from SPA's faxback
service at 800 637-6823.

Software Publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756

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