2015 was the first year that the UK video industry went truly multichannel as uptake of digital video services reached a tipping point, delivering a greater than predicted 30 per cent (30.3 per cent) year-on-year uplift in sales according to annual figures from global information services provider, IHS, released by the British Video Association (BVA).

With cinema also enjoying a very strong year, the total value of the audio visual industry reached nearly £11 billion/€15bn (2014 £10.9 billion), an increase of almost 5 per cent (4.8 per cent) year-on-year, which underlines the strength of the entertainment produced by the film and TV industry.

2015 also underlined the UK’s ongoing love affair with discs and the importance of entertainment in the home. Overall, the home entertainment market grew to £2.24 billion, up 1.5 per cent on 2014, with people preferring to own (57 per cent) rather than rent or stream (43 per cent). According to Official Charts Company data, DVD and Blu-ray combined sold nearly 119.6 million copies and represented near half (48 per cent) of the total home entertainment market value (£1.1 billion) or nearly £1 in every £2 spent as consumers continued to value the convenience and quality of physical media.

The value of the physical video market, in terms of consumer spend, is double that of the physical music market and 20 per cent bigger than the value of the physical games market.

Physical video = £1.075 billion

Physical music = £526 million

Physical game = £894 million

This puts into perspective the performance of the category and underlines yet again the quality of product produced by the audio visual industry.

2015 physical video milestones:

• Paddington was the biggest selling film of the year with near to 1.2million copies sold
• Disney’s Frozen overtook Toy Story 3 as the most gifted DVD ever selling 4.4 million copies to date
• Thirty-four titles released in 2015 sold more than 100k copies on disc in their first week of sale
• 54 titles released in 2015 sold more than 100k copies in their first month
• Twenty-four titles sold more than 100k on Blu-ray during 2015 including three that sold more than 300k

Digital sales – a closer look

Digital ownership has been the success story of 2015, up 50 per cent on 2014 to 11.5 million film transactions and over £100 million in consumer spend on film product alone, according to Futuresource Consulting’s latest research based on its new digital movie tracker, with direct data feeds from 10 of the leading Studios. It shows that some of the best-selling film titles to own, each selling in excess of 100k digitally, include: Kingsman – The Secret Service, Fifty Shades of Grey, Jurassic World, Minions, American Sniper, Fast & Furious 7, The Hobbit – Battle of the Five Armies and Interstellar. On iVoD (iVoD – transactional rental over the Internet), several titles sold in excess of 100k including: The Imitation Game, Kingsman – The Secret Service, Gone Girl, American Sniper, Interstellar, Lucy and Paddington.

Consumers’ appetite for higher quality content also continues to strengthen with High Definition now accounting for over two thirds of digital film sales (to own).

British talent playing its part

British talent, while not having it all its own way, continued to play a leading part in the 2015 end of year Official Video Charts across various categories with everyone’s favourite marmalade-loving bear, Paddington (Studio Canal), becoming the biggest selling video in 2015 with sales of nearly 1.2m copies on discs alone according to data from the Official Charts Company.

The Brits lost out on second spot, however, as despite having only released in October, the monster dinosaur reboot Jurassic World (Universal Pictures) roared into second place, selling more than 1.05 million physical copies in only 10 weeks.

The Hobbit – Battle of the Five Armies (Warner Bros) came in third place in the official video chart but topped the 2015 Official Blu-ray Chart with Sir Ian McKellen leading a British cast to a total of just over 1m copies on DVD and Blu-ray combined. Including sales of The Hobbit Trilogy, a box set of all three films, Battle of the Five Armies overtook Paddington with sales of near 1.3 million.

In fourth place was the film adaptation of British author E L James’ provocative romance novel, Fifty Shades of Grey (Universal Pictures), replicating its book and cinema sales success in the video market selling more than 909,000 copies. It was also the fastest selling week one title of the year, selling 521k in its first seven days of release.

Closing out the top five was Universal again with Minions, selling through over 816,000 copies.

British talent also led the way across other popular genres with biographical documentary Amy (Universal Music) selling 123k copies taking the number one spot in the music video category, Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby topping the sport and fitness video category with Charlotte’s 3 Minute Belly Blitz (Universal Pictures) selling 378k copies and becoming the fastest selling fitness DVD ever. Aardman’s Shaun The Sheep – The Movie (Studio Canal) flew the flag for British creativity in the Kids video category, selling 305k copies in 2015.

Game of Thrones (HBO) dominated the Official TV on Video chart in 2015. The fantasy drama landed four of the top ten bestselling TV title slots, collectively selling 890k copies.

The 2015 bestselling comedy chart was dominated by British comedians, with Michael McIntyre’s Happy and Glorious (Universal Pictures) selling 297k copies to reach the number one spot, beating Kevin Bridges – A Whole Different Story (Universal Pictures) (number two, 259k copies) and Mrs Brown’s Boys – Live – How Now Mrs. Brown Cow (Universal Pictures) (number three, 241k copies).

A stellar year for Universal

As the Official Video Chart shows, Universal Pictures had a hugely successful year dominating both volume and value market share in 2015 taking 19 per cent of both. Warner Bros came in second with 15.6 per cent of the market thanks to the success of The Hobbit – Battle of the Five Armies, Interstellar, Mad Max: Fury Road and American Sniper, Warner also dominated the Blu-ray market in 2015 with 22.6 per cent share. With Star Wars: The Force Awakens set to break new records when it reaches home entertainment, 2016 could be the year for Walt Disney to take the lead.

According to Liz Bales, CEO BVA and Industry Trust for IP Awareness, the figures show that the audio visual industry has evolved its business to remain ahead of the unprecedented changes in the way people want to access content. “The industry is now truly multichannel providing outstanding experiences for consumers be that in cinema, on DVD and Blu-ray, or through a multiplicity of digital services.”

“Despite the much suggested decline of discs, these latest figures also show that the category continues to be popular with consumers who are buying more than 320,000 discs every day and accounting for £1 in every £2 of spend on entertainment in the home. These figures, while lower than previous years as people now 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.”

“As ever, the story is not entirely positive as the industry continues to be blighted by access to illegal content with TV’s bestselling programme, Game of Thrones, reported to have been accessed illegally twice as many times as it was bought legally. This shows we can never drop our guard in the protection of our copyrights and why it made so much sense to bring align the structures of the BVA and the Industry Trust for IP Awareness.”

“With ever more services and means of accessing content available, the industry has created FindAnyFilm.com and The Guide to Screen Entertainment, to help consumers find what they’re looking for and ensure they are getting the real, legal content that they love,” she concluded.

Robert Price, Chairman, British Video Association (BVA)/Managing Director, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, said the audio-visual industry had a “brilliant” record of constant evolution to meet the needs of its customers and that is never more true than it is today. “Despite unprecedented change, and a troubled economic climate, the industry has continued to grow making it a major contributor to UK Plc and an incubator and promoter of the brilliant talent we have on our shores.”

David Sidebottom, Principal Analyst at Futuresource Consulting, said: “The UK has one of the most dynamic digital video sectors globally and its growth momentum is set to continue. EST film sales growth is on track to reach 50 per cent in 2015, with another strong slate further driving the market to new levels in 2016. Total spend on digital video services (including subscription video on demand services) will break £1billion in 2016.”

Richard Cooper, Head of Video at global information supplier, IHS said: “The digital market continues to grow strongly and new service launches such as DisneyLife and BBC Store will help to ensure that this sector sees continued growth. 2016 will see the release of a number of strong titles, including Batman v Superman, The Jungle Book, and follow up to Finding Nemo: Finding Dory. Combining these with 2015 release; Star Wars, should ensure that 2016 sees strong consumer spending on home entertainment transactions.”

Top five charts for each video format and genre

© Official Charts Company

Official Video Chart 2015

(All DVD & Blu-ray)

Official DVD Chart 2015

Official Blu-ray Chart 2015

Official Film on Video Chart 2015

Official Children’s Video Chart 2015

Official TV on Video Chart 2015

Official Music on Video Chart 2015

Official Sports and Fitness Video Chart 2015

Official Special Interest Video Chart 2015

Categories: Articles, Consumer Behaviour, Markets, OTT, OTT, Portable Media, Premium, Research, VOD