Streaming boom helps UK entertainment spend set new record, now worth £7.24b

New data from the Entertainment Retailers of Association show that the streaming boom has seen spending on music, videos and games hit a new record.

It outstripped books, magazines and newspapers for the first time.

The Brits spent £7.24 billion (A$12.86 billion) in 2017, and £7.1 billion ($12.62 billion) on the printed word.

The ERA attributed the spending boom on the huge streaming take-up.

“It is an extraordinary testament to the appeal and resonance of digital entertainment services that they have helped home entertainment to hit this milestone nearly 550 years since the invention of the printing press,” said ERA CEO Kim Bayley.

It was a banner year for the entertainment industry, with the £7.24 billion figure representing an 8.8% growth from 2016.

Music revenues grew by 9.6% in 2017, almost twice 2016’s growth rate (4.6%).

Revenues for subscription services grew 41.9% to £577.1 million ($1.025 billion) – the first time they have exceeded half-a-billion pounds, or the billion dollar mark in terms of Australian currency.

Games revenues grew by 9.6% to reach a new all-time-high of £3.35 billion ($5.95 billion).

Digital revenues including digital online, mobile and tablet gaming surged by 12.1% to £2.56 billion ($4.5 billion).

After a 16.4% decline in 2016, physical games sales rebounded in 2017 to grow 2.1%, driven by a 5% increase in console games software.

Entertainment’s growth rate exceeded that of all other sectors monitored by the Leisure Industries Research Centre.

These included eating out (up 7.7%), drinking alcohol (up 6%), holidaying overseas (up 4.4%) and gambling (up 1%).

Total leisure spending was up 5.2%.

The 8.8% sales growth in the combined music, video and games sectors outpacing growth in the wider UK economy  (1.9%) by a factor of more than four.

Dr Themis Kokolakakis from the Leisure Industries Research Centre said, “The 2008-2009 recession hurt both the entertainment and reading markets.

“Since 2012, the entertainment market has recovered very strongly producing record 2017 results.”

Ed Sheeran’s album Divide was the best-selling music, video or games title in the UK in 2017, achieving sales of 2,702,839.

Last year, 33 music, video or games titles sold over half a million units.

Of these, 10 sold over 1 million units and three over 2 million.

Of the Top 40 biggest sellers, seven were music albums, 10 were videogames and 23 were videos, led by a trio of titles from Walt Disney Studios – Beauty & The Beast, Rogue One – A Star Wars Story and Moana.

The Top 10 best selling entertainment titles were:

1. Music, Ed Sheeran, Divide, (Warner Music), 2,702,839

2. Videogames, FIFA 18 (Electronic Arts) 2,696,721

3. Videogames, Call Of Duty: WWII (Activision Blizzard). 2,442,416

4. Video, Beauty And The Beast (2017) (Walt Disney Studios) 1,484,565

5. Video, Rogue One - A Star Wars Story (Walt Disney Studios) 1,380,402

6. Video, Moana (Walt Disney Studios) 1,293,787

7. Video, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them (Walt Disney Studios) 1,279,850

8. Videogames, Grand Theft Auto V (Take 2) 1,080,022

9. Video, Bridget Jones’s Baby (Universal Pictures) 1,052,753

10. Albums, Human, Rag’n’Bone Man (Sony Music) 1,001,913

The results mark the fifth successive year of growth for the UK entertainment market, driven by a raft of successful new digital services from the likes of Spotify, Steam, Netflix, Amazon, Deezer, Sky, Apple and Google.

Digital services captured 71.9% of entertainment sales value in 2017, according to ERA figures.

In between the continuing growth in digital, two physical formats showed notable growth:

Boxed software for consoles like the new Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 which generated their first growth in 10 years – up 5% to £750 million ($1.33 billion);

Vinyl albums which continued their long-term revival with sales up 34% to reach £87.7 million ($155.89 million).