BVA: Brits Spent $8.9 Million a Day on Home Video in 2014
26 Mar, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel
Electronic sellthrough revenue matching U.S. output
Despite an industry push toward digital sales of movies and TV shows, packaged media continues to resonate among average consumers in the United Kingdom.
British consumers in 2014 spent more than £6 million ($8.9 million) a day on packaged media, including DVD and Blu-ray Disc, according to the British Video Association. That’s double the amount spent on music, cinema or pizza.
With about 6,000 titles released annually, the British home entertainment market is the third-largest globally after the United States and Japan, according to IHS.
The BVA said about 50% of British adults — 24 million people — bought a disc last year, matching purchase levels set in 2013. The trade group said 57% of all video sales were impulse purchases, while 55% were for catalog product.
Speaking March 24 at an industry event, BVA chair Robert Price, who is U.K. managing director of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, said the data underscores the resilience of packaged media and strength of video entertainment.
“How many other categories reinvent and refresh themselves every single week — and with products that enjoy such high awareness and emotional engagement? How many [industries] can claim an unrivalled halo effect across multiple household brands and product lines, from confectionary and spirits, to clothing?,” Price said.
Meanwhile, David Sidebottom, senior media analyst at Futuresource Consulting, said electronic sellthrough (or Digital HD) of content continues to grow — driven in part by early release dates.
“We are starting to see signs that the recent success of electronic sellthrough in the USA is being replicated in the U.K, with over 30% growth in sales in 2014. This performance was driven by high-profile new services, increased consumer awareness and a number of studio initiatives,” Sidebottom said.
That said, packaged-media purchases represented two- thirds of all video spending in 2014. Total retail sales topped £1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) with DVD and Blu-ray accounting for 89% of spending, followed by Digital HD.