Video sales in the UK overtook games in 2023, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), beating gaming sales for the first time since 2012.
The ERA found that UK entertainment sales (music, video and games) reached £11.9 billion during 2023, marking a 7 percent YoY rise, and the eleventh consecutive annual increase.
Streaming and digital services were highlighted as the main driver of growth, accounting for 91.7 percent of total revenue. Across the three sectors, streaming drove revenues by more than £800 million.
Video was identified as the fastest-growing sector, its revenues climbing 10 percent YoY to reach £4,915 million. Meanwhile, gaming revenues reached £4,737 million (+2.9 percent) and music £2,220 million (+9.6 percent).
“The entertainment business is defying gravity, delivering eleven straight years of growth regardless of wider economic conditions,” said ERA Chairman Ben Drury.
Top of the charts
This marks videos return to the position of the highest-selling category in the UK, having trailed gaming for the last ten years. Streaming services were a key growth driver in 2023, with SVOD revenues accounting for 89 percent of the video market. ERA found that SVOD revenues have risen by 75 percent since 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
Understandably, physical video formats saw further decline, with DVD sales down 21.7 percent YoY (£91.8 million), and Blu-ray down 15.1 percent (£77.9 million).
The biggest-selling video title of 2023 was Avatar: The Way of Water, according to ERA, which generated total sales of 560,000.
In contrast, games sales grew by just 2.9 percent in 2023, reaching £4,736.7 million. ERA notes gaming’s “much faster journey to digital maturity” than video and music, with digital accounting for around 90 percent of revenues.
“2023 marked a dramatic return to the top for video, finally ending games’s decade-long run as entertainment’s largest sector,” said ERA CEO Kim Bayley. “For a long time the only way to enjoy video digitally was illegally. Streaming changed all that and has transformed not just the viewing habits of tens of millions, but the fortunes of the entire movie and TV business.”
