9,500 titles worldwide !

CD-ROM invades all areas of publishing

January 6, 1995 -- TFPL Publishing estimate that there are currently in
excess of 9,500 CD-ROM 8 multimedia CD titles commercially available
worldwide. These forecasts, which disclose an annual titles growth rate in
excess of 50%, are based on the latest edition of The CD-ROM Directory.

CD-ROM Facts & Figures commentator Julie Schwerin observed, "Industry
output has reached a level sufficient to propel CD-ROM into the mainstream
of desktop computing and position it for similar success in domestic
set-top systems." CD-ROM titles now cover every subject area imaginable.
Although consumer titles are receiving the majority of publicity (with
current growth rates exceeding 70%), the range of business products on the
market is ever expanding and together with education products continue to
account for the bulk of money generated in this global industry.

Currently multimedia CDs account for 27% of all titles available,
reflecting the dominance of business, scientific and technical titles.
However, this split is changing fast with the heaviest users of
multimedia, namely games, general reference, education, edutainment and
films accounting for a fast-increasing proportion.

According to TFPL's Divisional Manager, Frank Bevis, "All major publishers
now have a strategy for exploiting electronic publishing opportunities,
and, for the moment, CD-ROM is their format of choice, as it provides a
practical and cost-effective platform which is available now. What has
delayed market expansion to date is a low installed base of CD-ROM and
multimedia hardware, the high price of titles and drives, undeveloped
distribution channels, and a lack of knowledge about what titles are in
fact available."

The number of companies active in the industry currently exceeds 6,000.
Growth in the number of electronic publishers has levelled off as many
traditional "content" owners, including print publishers, opt for the
expertise of specialist CD-ROM developers, rather than becoming electronic
publishers themselves. The changing structure of the industry is
characterised by a rise in the number of distributors, developers and
providers of professional services (lawyers, consultants, etc.).

Windows is the platform experiencing the most dramatic growth. Windows
titles accounted for less than 5% of all titles in 1992, a share which has
now risen to nearly 20%. Of these titles, well over half are also
available as DOS applications and over 38% as Apple Macintosh
applications. Apple Mac titles continue to show steady growth. It is,
however, interesting to note that of just over 1,700 Mac titles, nearly
70% of them are also available for the PC, in either MS-DOS and/or Windows
formats. The fact that around 15% of all titles currently available are
Mac/PC cross-platform discs neatly illustrates the trend towards platform
convergence, although clear 'plug and play' functionality needed to
optimise CD-ROM sales volumes through mass merchandising channels is not
yet a reality.

Within the consumer market the golden opportunity for publishers is the
Video CD standard, which enables full screen, full motion video playback,
and will allow titles to be used across a wide range of otherwise
non-compatible platforms. Films currently available on video cassette will
move to the silver disc, as will music videos. Accompanying this trend,
definitions of what constitutes a film versus a music video, versus an
audio CD, versus a game or general reference title, etc., will become ever
more blurred as each borrows media from the other.
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The CD-ROM Directory is the definitive international guide to CD-ROM 8
multimedia titles published worldwide, plus all companies involved in the
business. A completely new edition of the directory is published every six
months (Dec & June). The latest edition is the 13th and subscribers to the
CD-ROM VERSION automatically receive two editions as part of their annual
subscription (125.00 [pounds] for two editions), although a single edition
is also available (85.00 [pounds]). A BOOK VERSION of the directory is
also published yearly (95.00 [pounds] for a single copy).

Further charts will appear in TFPL's CD-ROM Facts & Figures 1995, a
detailed analysis of the international CD-ROM & multimedia CD industry,
which features a full commentary by industry expert Julie Schwerin (author
of The Optical Publishing Industry Assessment).

TFPL provides consultancy, marketing & research services to the CD-ROM
industry and wider information sector in No. America and Europe.

TFPL Inc
1301 Twentieth St NW (#702)
Washington, D.C. 20036
202-296-6009,  fax 202-296-6343
CIS: 74044,3166

TFPL Ltd.
17-18 Britton St
London EC1M 5NQ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 171 251 5522
Fax: +44 171 251 8318
CIS: 100067,1560

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