More than 60,000 global digital screens in 2011 More than half of the world's screens are digital screens

According to IHS's final data, the number of digital cinema screens in the world increased to nearly 64,000 in 2011, an increase of 82% from the number of 35070 at the end of 2010. In 2011, the number of global net increase screens reached the highest level so far, reaching 28756, far exceeding the 18,698 records set in 2010.

North America has the largest number of digital screens, reaching 27,469, followed by 18,521 in Europe and slightly more than 15,000 in the Asia Pacific region.

At the end of 2011, there were 63,825 effective screens worldwide, of which 35,979 or 56% supported 3D, which was significantly lower than the previous year's 64%, as shown in the figure. Although the proportion of screens with increased 3D capabilities accounted for a decline in the number of digital screens, the number of newly added 3D screens reached a record high of 13,500 in 2011, more than 13,000 a year ago.

Despite having the largest number of digital screens, North American 3D accounts for the lowest proportion of total digital screens. Only 49% of digital screens have been upgraded to 3D screens. Central and South America is at the other extreme, with 96% of digital screens also supporting 3D. The higher proportion of theaters turning to pure 3D digital screens is due to the current lack of available business models in the region to support a more comprehensive digital cinema conversion, namely Virtual Copy Fee (VPF). The VPF is the main factor driving this transition in other regions.

Although the momentum of upgrading to 3D screens continued to promote the growth of digital screens in 2011, the cinema strategy shifted to full digitization last year. This can be seen from the fact that the number of 2D screen installations exceeds the 3D screen for the first time. In the past two years, the growth of digital cinema has been particularly rapid. The initial incentive effect generated by the economic benefits of 3D has now been replaced by efforts by the major theaters to complete the upgrade of all screens to digital technologies.

It is expected that the total number of digital screens will exceed 100,000 by the end of 2013, accounting for more than 80% of the global convertible screens.

The critical moment of digital cinema was a significant turning point in digital cinema last year. More than half of the world's screens achieved a digital transformation, reaching an important threshold of 51.6%.

North America is at the forefront, with 65% of screens now being upgraded to digital screens, followed by Western Europe, which is 55%. The digital screen conversion rate in the Asia-Pacific region is relatively low at 45%, and Latin America and Africa/Middle East are both lower, at 23%. Of the 58 regions tracked by IHS, there are currently 25 regions with most screens upgraded to digital screens. There are three regions where the conversion rate is said to exceed 95%, of which Norway and Luxembourg are as high as 100% and Hong Kong is 95%. The conversion rate in 12 regions is 70%, including China, the United Kingdom, and South Korea.

More than half of the screens upgraded to digital screens include the United States, ranking 17th, and Japan ranked 19th.

There are three regions where the screen conversion rate is less than 10%. They are India, Morocco and Venezuela. India's screen infrastructure includes many rural and single-screen cinemas, many of which have already digitized devices using sub-global ISO standards. However, the situation is changing. The entire theater of major multi-cinema is changing to high-end digital equipment.

The number of digital screens in the United States in 2011 was the highest, reaching 25,621. China ranks second in the distance and has 7,853. France ranks third with 3,653. The United Kingdom and Germany are ranked fourth and fifth, with 2714 and 2091 respectively.