UK entertainment market growth rate doubles to 6.4% in 1H 2017

Streaming music services and digital games help entertainment double its growth rate to 6.4% in first half of 2017

LONDON — Music, video and games sales surged by 6.4% in the first half of 2017 compared with same period of 2016, according to figures released today by the Entertainment Retailers Association.

It marks a sharp acceleration on the growth seen in calendar 2016 when sales grew 3% compared with 2015

Key factor in the soaring growth was increasing take-up of streaming services from ERA members such as Spotify, Amazon and Netflix.

Music was the star performer of the three sectors, growing 11.2% in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period of 2016.

Music also delivered the biggest-selling title in ERA’s Entertainment Chart combining sales of music, video and games, with Ed Sheeran’s Divide selling 2.065m units, well ahead of Rogue One – A Star Wars Story with sales of 1.18m and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them on 1.032m.

ERA CEO Kim Bayley said, “Entertainment has now seen over four years of continuous growth thanks to a combination of digital services pioneering new ways of consuming music, video and games, and physical retailers working hard to maximise sales of discs. To now deliver another £180m worth of sales in the first half of 2017 is really extraordinary.”

Music performs best in H1 2017

Overall entertainment sales increased 6.4% to £2.997m in the first six months of 2017 compared with £2.817m in the same period of 2016.

Music grew fastest at 11.2%, followed by games on 8.4% and video at 1.2%.

ERA Entertainment Monitor – Value Sales (£ Million)

            H1 2016  H1 2017  % change
            -------  -------  --------
Video         978.1    990.0      1.2%
Videogames  1,331.4  1,443.2      8.4%
Music         507.8    564.7     11.2%
            -------  -------  --------
Total       2,817.3  2,997.9      6.4%

Source: Music – Official Charts. Includes internal ERA subscription streaming consumer spend estimates
Video – Physical data from Official Charts / BVA, Digital estimates from IHS
Videogames – Physical data from GfK. Digital estimates from IHS

The numbers show a continuing shift to digital formats with three quarters (75.4%) of revenues now accounted for by digital.

The exception to the rule continues to be vinyl LPs. Vinyl sales increased 35.7% by volume to 1.9m units in the first half of 2017, with value increasing 37.6% to £37.3m.

Games accounted for just over 48% of the entertainment retail market in the first half, with video representing around one third. Music takes just under 20% of the market.