BERLIN — Revenue stemming from film downloads in Germany rose threefold to E21 million ($28 million) last year.

According to market research group GfK, consumers paid for a total of 4.8 million transactions in 2009, with new titles making up 60% of all sales.

At the top of the list was video-on-demand, which saw revenues double to $17.4 million, accounting for the lion’s share of the business.

Electronic sell-through (EST), which in Germany is largely generated by Apple’s iTunes, accounted for $10.6 million.

Like DVD sell-through, the digital delivery business is strongest in the fourth quarter. Some 45% of revenue was generated in the last three months of 2009. And for the first time in the fourth quarter, EST accounted for more than 50% of digital delivery, followed by VoD with 38% and pay-per-view with 11%.

Germany’s overall home entertainment market took in $1.8 billion in sale and $340 million in rental revenue; digital download business accounted for just 0.5% of the former and 5% of the latter.