The amount of money spent on digital media has surpassed the total sum spent on traditional printed media for the first time.
Products such as Netflix, Amazon and computer games have helped to boost the amount of money spent digital media ahead of traditional media such as books, newspapers and magazines in the UK.
A staggering £7.2 billion was spent on music, video, computer games, CDs, and other gadgets in total last year, edging the £7.1 billion spent on ‘printed word’ items such as books, newspapers and other traditional media, a report by the Entertainment Retailers Association has found.
Sales of Ed Sheeran’s ÷ album and Fifa 18 helped to propel the amount spent on digital media in front of traditional media for the first time
Subscriptions to paid-for services, such as Amazon, Apple and Spotify were a huge factor in the growth of digital media, the report added.
Kim Bayley, the chief exectutive of the ERA, said: ‘It is an extraordinary testament to the appeal add resonance of digital entertainment services that they have helped home entertainment to hit this milestone.’
Among some of the smash-hits which helped propel digital media sales included Ed Sheeran’s best-selling album Divide, which sold 2.7 million copies and the video games FIFA 18 and Call of Duty: WWII, which sold 2.69 million and 2.44 million copies respectively.
The amount spent on printed word products has dipped dramatically from its high of £8.3 billion in 2007. The sales of ebooks has also tailed off, with last year being the lowest sales since the Amazon Kindle hit the UK in 2011, according to the Guardian.
Themis Kokolakakis of the Leisure Industries Research Centre said: ‘The 2008-09 recession hurt both the entertainment and reading markets.
‘Since 2012, the entertainment market has recovered very strongly. Traditional media is under pressure … partly because there is so much competition for people’s time and attention. Entertainment has grown while reading has stagnated.’
Consumer habits have altered drastically over the past few years. Just five years ago, 80 per cent of revenues were generated from sales of DVDs and CDs, compared to 56 per cent of revenues now coming from streaming websites, electronic rental, subscriptions and in-app purchases.
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Vinyl records have bucked the downward trend of physical products, with growth standing at 35 per cent last year. The sales of games consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation also bucked the trend, seeing a rise of five per cent.
Bayley said: ‘Vinyl is a prime example of retailers nurturing demand for a product most people had long written off. It would be foolish to underestimate consumers’ continuing affection for physical product.’
The success of the streaming in the music industry has pushed downloads on apps like Spotify and Apple Music up by 16.6 per cent in the first half of last year.
This is in stark contrast to the sales of CDs, which have been in decline since 2007.
Home entertainment sales rose by 8.8 per cent last year, outstripping other industries such as eating out, up 7.7 per cent, and overseas holidays, up 4.4 per cent.