Kids & Income have greatest influence on household ownership of Cameras and Imaging related Products

According to The NPD Group’s new report, Household Penetration Study: Ownership Landscape 2008, more than 75 percent of U.S. homes report having a digital camera.

Point-and-shoot cameras have the highest household penetration, with 74 percent of households owning one, while Digital SLR (DSLR) penetration is still low at 10 percent. DSLRs continue to display growth potential; unit sales increased 23 percent from the first half of 2007 to the first half of 2008 and revenue increased 20 percent, according to NPD’s retail tracking service.

The presence of children in the household plays a large part in camera type and ownership as well. An 81 percent penetration of point-and-shoot cameras exists within U.S. households with kids under the age of 18, while the penetration in households without kids drops to 71 percent, according to the study. Households with and without children are equally likely to own a DSLR (10%).

DSLR household ownership is influenced more by income than by kids. Households earning more than $100,000 per year are more than twice as likely as those earning less than $100,000 to own a DSLR, at 17 percent and 8 percent, respectively. With the average price of a DSLR in the first half of 2008 at $942, it is still beyond the budget of many U.S. households, especially when compared to the $181 average price for a point-and-shoot camera, according to NPD’s retail tracking service.

Income is also a factor in point-and-shoot household penetration. Households with incomes over $100,000 have an 86 percent penetration rate versus households with incomes under $100,000, which have a 71 percent rate.

“The enthusiast nature of the DSLR household is revealed not only through multiple camera ownership, but also of other image capture and display devices,” said Liz Cutting, senior imaging analyst at NPD. “More than four-in-five DSLR households also have a point-and-shoot camera in the house, and 40 percent have two or more point-and-shoot digital cameras, in addition to the DSLR. Beyond still image capture, DSLR households are much more likely to own digital picture frames and digital camcorders.”

While presence of children in the household doesn’t factor into DSLR ownership, it does weigh heavily on camcorder ownership. Camcorders have proven to be the most family-centric image capture device. According to the report, 35 percent of households with children own and actively use a DVD, flash, or internal hard drive camcorder, but only 20 percent of households without kids report ownership.

Digital picture frames are twice as likely to be owned by $100,000 and greater income households as those earning less than $100,000. Just over one-in-five affluent households own a digital picture frame, compared to one-in-ten earning less than $100,000.

“Digital picture frames grew 48 percent in units from the first half of 2007, but they are more likely to be found in more affluent households,” said Cutting. “As awareness builds and prices drop, digital picture frames will broaden as a simple way to display memories that might otherwise be stored and not seen.”

For more information at http://www.npd.com