New figures suggest UK spending on media is up, while sale of DVDs and CDs continues to plummet.
Last year the UK public spent £3.1bn on streaming music and digital video, says a report from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).
It shows a 23.5 per cent rise in spending on streaming music year on year, while physical sales fell 17 per cent to £318m.
The UK public also spent 21.5 per cent more on digital video in 2019, totalling £2.1bn, while physical video sales fell 22.6 per cent.
While online music and video spending was up, both were eclipsed by the UK’s spending on digital gaming products.
A total of £3.7bn was spent on digital gaming, increasing 1.1 per cent year on year.
Despite the large figures, total spending on gaming was actually down 3.4 per cent, dragged down by a 21.7 per cent decrease in physical sales.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said there was no doubt that retailers of physical product had a tough time in 2019.
“But physical entertainment was still a £1.4bn retail business. Sales of vinyl and 4K Ultra HD discs are buoyant and still growing and we still have huge hit phenomena like FIFA 20 which can sell 1.5m physical units at around £40 a time. Physical is down, but it’s definitely not out,” she said.
“The rise of digital entertainment services has created the biggest revolution in UK leisure habits in history, enabling people to access the music, video and games they love wherever and whenever they want, and transforming the fortunes of record labels, filmmakers and games developers.
“The fact that in 2019 over 80 per cent of entertainment spending was on digital services shows the scale of that revolution.”