Five surprising projections for the UK entertainment and media market
The imminent releases of big blockbusters such as Star Wars and Spectre, music lovers' penchant for streaming services such as Spotify – as well as the increasing popularity of e-books – mean the outlook for the UK media and entertainment market is shaping up nicely, according to professional services firm PWC.
Here are five surprising projections for the UK entertainment and media market:
It'll be worth £66.6bn by 2019
The UK media and entertainment market was worth £56.9bn last year, making it the second largest across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, behind Germany.
And the UK media and entertainment market is forecast to grow by 2.3 per cent year-on-year, reaching £66.6bn by 2019.
We're set to go increasingly mobile
Mobile internet access is set to overtake fixed broadband in 2017, increasing by an annual growth rate of 7.1 per cent to reach £7bn by 2019.
And this will mean that the UK has the highest mobile internet access in western Europe.
E-books to overtake print/audio by 2018
The popularity of self-published e-books means that they're likely overtake print/audio copies in 2018. Nevertheless, they'll face increasing competition from video, music and game content for users' attention.
Consumer e-book sales are forecast grow by 20 per cent year-on-year over the next 5 years, from £466m in 2014 to £1.2bn in 2019.
Conversely, consumer books print/audio revenue is expected to decline 8 per cent annually over the next five years, falling from £1.3bn in 2014 to £867m in 2019.
The UK box office will turnover £1.24bn in 2015
Big blockbusters such as Avengers: Age of Ultron, Jurassic World, Spectre and Star Wars will make this a "bumper year" will help UK box office sales surge by seven per cent this year.
This comes after a lack of "real blockbusters", the distraction of the football World Cup and a failure to entice young cinema-goers pushed UK box office sales to £1.16bn in 2014, down from £1.22bn a year earlier.
Meanwhile, will music sales start to grow again?
The popularity of digital streaming services such as Spotify, Rdio and Deezer will help total music sales return to growth this year, hitting 2.69bn in 2019, and rebounding from a decline 2014.
Streaming accounted for 22 per cent of UK digital recorded music revenue in 2014, but this will increase to 49 per cent by 2019.
"The growth is being driven by the internet and the consumers love of mobile technology – consumers want a social experience as well as a personal one," Phil Stokes, UK entertainment and media leader at PwC, said.