BVA: Nearly 50% of U.K. Home Entertainment Spending in 2015 on Disc

5 Jan, 2016 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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‘Paddington,’ ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies,’ ‘Jurassic World’ top-selling movies

Consumers in the United Kingdom still covet DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, buying nearly 120 million discs for £1.1 billion ($1.7 billion) in revenue — 48% of total (£2.24 billion) home entertainment spending in 2015, according to the British Video Association, which cited data from IHS.

While digital revenue increased 33%, consumers preferred to own (57%) rather than rent or stream (43%). Total entertainment spending increased 5% to nearly £11 billion ($17.7 billion), when including pay-TV (68%), home entertainment (21%) and theatrical (11%).

Paddington (Studio Canal), was the top-selling video in 2015 with sales of nearly 1.2 million discs. Jurassic World (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) finished second, selling more than 1.05 million discs in only 10 weeks of release, according to data from the Official Charts Company.  

By comparison, Paddington sold more than 1 million combined DVD/Blu-ray units last year in the United States following its April 28 release by Anchor Bay Home Entertainment, according to The-Numbers.com. Jurassic World tallied nearly 4.7 million discs.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) came in third place in the U.K., but topped the 2015 Official Blu-ray Chart with Ian McKellen leading a British cast to a total of 1.02 million copies on DVD and Blu-ray combined. When including sales of The Hobbit Trilogy, a boxed set of all three films, The Battle of the Five Armies overtook Paddington with sales of nearly 1.3 million units.

The Battle of the Five Armies sold 3.2 million discs in the U.S.

“Game of Thrones” (HBO) dominated the Official TV Chart on Video in 2015. The fantasy drama landed four of the top 10 best-selling TV title slots, collectively selling 890,000 copies across the series’ four seasons.

Meanwhile, Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season sold more than 1 million units in the U.S.

“Despite the much suggested decline of discs, these latest figures showed that the format continues to be popular with consumers [in the U.K.] who are buying more than 320,000 discs every day,” Liz Bales, CEO of BVA and Industry Trust for IP Awareness, said in a statement. “These figures, while lower than previous years as people access content in many different ways, suggest there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the success of both DVD and Blu-ray for years to come.”

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