Digital video subscriptions are increasingly offsetting falls in the sales of DVDs, however, the physical format arguably remains more popular.
According to the British Video Association’s Yearbook more than 22 million people bought a video on DVD or Blu-ray Disc in 2013, compared with just 3.3 million who subscribe to a video on demand service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Instant.
The yearbook says 92% of consumers’ expenditure is on physical discs and just 8% on digital video.
However, Enders Analysis issued a cautionary note about the £2.24 billion video market.
“The bad news is that DVD’s decline is set to quicken, as the number of households with stand-alone players has begun to fall, though there should be some respite this year from sales of huge box office hits such as Disney’s Frozen and Warner Bros.’ Gravity,” the analyst said. “Ultimately, we see rising penetration of high speed broadband and connected devices including the TV set as a net positive, as more people have more ways to spend money on video, but the shift from purchase to rental and subscription options will mitigate the benefits.”
The BVA says are 70% of consumers paying to keep and just 30% renting, according to consumer feedback. This is backed by the recent decision of Sky Store to send a physical copy to movie purchasers over the Sky set-top.
