UK video industry First Half boost
August 2, 2013
Figures released by the British Video Association show that the value of the video entertainment market increased in the first half of 2013. Consumer expenditure on all video entertainment reached more than £993 million, up 8.2 per cent compared with the first half of 2012.
Sales value increased across both physical and digital formats, with consumer purchases of physical discs growing by 2.5 per cent from £616.8 million to £632.5 million in the first half of 2013 compared with the same period in 2012, led by Blu-ray, whose value grew strongly by 37 per cent to £117.2 million. The value of entertainment spend on downloading and streaming from digital video services, provided by IHS, increased by 42.9 per cent in the same period to £228.1 million in the first six months.
The rental habit continues to be popular taken as a whole. Kantar reported an 89 per cent increase in sVoD viewing occasions in just one quarter, however these appear to be replacing disc rentals, which showed a decline year to date of 11 per cent, with 42 million transactions over the counter or online in the first half.
Supermarkets continue to be consumers’ preferred source of DVDs, capturing 49 per cent of sales value in the first half. Tesco is approaching HMV’s market leadership, according to Kantar Worldpanel, with a 17.5 per cent retail store share, yet although some HMV stores closed following the period in administration in January this year, it still commanded almost 18 per cent of sales value, demonstrating that many shoppers are searching out DVDs and Blu-ray Discs in specialist stores as well as a growing number of other retail outlets.
While there has been a decline in the number of HMV and Blockbuster outlets in the first half of this year, Official Charts Company data indicates that an additional 1,000 stores (across supermarkets, petrol stations and department stores) are now retailing DVD and Blu-ray discs and reporting sales figures. Furthermore, industry estimates indicate that as many as 6,000 other non-traditional shops (such as motorway service stations, garages and corner shops) are also selling DVDs, fulfilling shoppers’ appetite for video entertainment through impulse purchases in non-traditional outlets.
Lavinia Carey, Director General of the BVA, said the first half of 2013 had proved to be much more encouraging than expected after the difficult retail conditions in January this year. “Distributors have risen to the challenge and new retailers have entered the market to offer DVDs, which remain hugely popular with shoppers, in a wider range of stores. An increase in the value of like-for-like sales of discs and digital video demonstrates that people are spending money on both, something BVA consumer research bears out. Shoppers continue to buy discs as gifts, for their children, to watch in the car and because they like to view as a family at home and in the holidays,” she noted