Streaming music services and digital games help entertainment double its growth rate to 6.4% in first half of 2017

Ed Sheeran trumps Star Wars and Fantastic Beasts to deliver 2017’s biggest seller so far

London, 25 July 2017 – Music, video and games sales surged by 6.4% in the first half of 2017 compared with same period of 2016, according to figures released today by the Entertainment Retailers Association. 

It marks a sharp acceleration on the growth seen in calendar 2016 when sales grew 3% compared with 2015 

Key factor in the soaring growth was increasing take-up of streaming services from ERA members such as Spotify, Amazon and Netflix. 

Music was the star performer of the three sectors, growing 11.2% in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period of 2016. 

Music also delivered the biggest-selling title in ERA’s Entertainment Chart combining sales of music, video and games, with Ed Sheeran’s Divide selling 2.065m units, well ahead of Rogue One – A Star Wars Story with sales of 1.18m and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them on 1.032m. 

ERA CEO Kim Bayley said, “Entertainment has now seen over four years of continuous growth thanks to a combination of digital services pioneering new ways of consuming music, video and games, and physical retailers working hard to maximise sales of discs. To now deliver another £180m worth of sales in the first half of 2017 is really extraordinary.”

 

Music performs best in H1 2017 

Overall entertainment sales increased 6.4% to £2.997m in the first six months of 2017 compared with £2.817m in the same period of 2016. 

Music grew fastest at 11.2%, followed by games on 8.4% and video at 1.2%.

 

ERA Entertainment Monitor - Value Sales (£ Million)

 

 

H1 2016

H1 2017

Calendar year % change

Video

 978.1

 990.0

1.2%

Videogames

 1,331.4

 1,443.2

8.4%

Music

 507.8

 564.7

11.2%

Total value

 2,817.3

 2,997.9

6.4%

Source: Music - Official Charts. Includes internal ERA subscription streaming consumer spend estimates

Video - Physical data from Official Charts / BVA, Digital estimates from IHS

Videogames - Physical data from GfK. Digital estimates from IHS

 

 

The numbers show a continuing shift to digital formats with three quarters (75.4%) of revenues now accounted for by digital. 

The exception to the rule continues to be vinyl LPs. Vinyl sales increased 35.7% by volume to 1.9m units in the first half of 2017, with value increasing 37.6% to £37.3m.

Games accounted for just over 48% of the entertainment retail market in the first half, with video representing around one third. Music takes just under 20% of the market.

 

Sheeran tops Entertainment Chart in H1 2017

 

Ed Sheeran’s Divide has already broken countless records – including placing every track in the Official UK Singles Chart – and ERA figures now reveal it was also the biggest-selling entertainment product of the first six months of 2017. 

Its sales total of 2.065m units was nearly 885,000 ahead of the second-placed title, the video of Rogue One – A Star Wars Story.

Elsewhere in music, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s debut album Human, propelled by the single of the same name generated sales of 694,000 units to become the sixth biggest-selling entertainment product of the first six months of 2017. 

Overall, however, it was video which dominated the biggest-sellers with seven of the Top 10, including a particularly strong showing for children’s animation with Moana, Trolls and Sing all in the Top 10. 

Reflecting the fact that games publishers typically skew their biggest releases to the fourth quarter, there were no games titles in the Top 10. The highest-placed game was Grand Theft Auto V at number 13.

 

ENTERTAINMENT CHART H1 2017

 

Title

Artist

Company

Sales

1

Divide

Ed Sheeran

Warner Music

2,064,966

2

Rogue One - A Star Wars Story

 

Walt Disney Studios

1,180,496

3

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

 

Warner Home Video

1,032,525

4

Bridget Jones's Baby

 

Universal Pictures

936,064

5

Moana

 

Walt Disney Studios

714,698

6

Human

Rag'n'Bone Man

Sony Music

694,194

7

Trolls

 

20th Century Fox He

657,760

8

Now That's What I Call Music 96

Various Artists

Sony Music/Universal Music

530,290

9

Doctor Strange

 

Walt Disney Studios

510,711

10

Sing

 

Universal Pictures

489,672

11

The Girl On The Train

 

20th Century Fox

397,619

12

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar

 

20th Century Fox

352,199

13

Grand Theft Auto V

 

Take 2

334,280

14

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands

 

Ubisoft

311,792

15

La La Land

 

Elevation Sales

294,456

16

Arrival

 

20th Century Fox He

294,171

17

Horizon Zero Dawn

 

Sony Comp Ent

286,538

18

Inferno

 

Sony Pictures He

271,388

19

Jack Reacher - Never Go Back

 

Universal Pictures

268,888

20

T2 Trainspotting

 

Sony Pictures He

259,892

21

The Magnificent Seven

 

Sony Pictures He

257,867

22

Fifty Shades Darker

 

Universal Pictures

249,590

23

The Lego Batman Movie

 

Warner Home Video

245,739

24

FIFA 17

 

EA

242,385

25

Hacksaw Ridge

 

Elevation Sales

237,735

26

Sully - Miracle On The Hudson

 

Warner Home Video

236,486

27

Passengers

 

Sony Pictures

229,520

28

More Life

Drake

Universal Music

228,862

29

X

Ed Sheeran

Warner Music

224,267

30

Deepwater Horizon

 

Elevation Sales

220,734

31

Assassin's Creed

 

20th Century Fox He

219,093

32

Finding Dory

 

Walt Disney Studios

218,625

33

Glory Days

Little Mix

Sony Music

215,638

34

Wonderland

Take That

Universal Music

212,037

35

Suicide Squad

 

Warner Home Video

210,642

36

Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare

 

Activision Blizzard

204,778

37

Trainspotting

 

Spirit Entertainment

203,000

38

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

 

Capcom

190,545

39

The Secret Life Of Pets

 

Universal Pictures

190,509

40

Gang Signs & Prayer

Stormzy

Merky

188,240

 

VIDEO

GAME

ALBUM

 

Source: Music - Official Charts. (Physical format volume upweighted 5% to represent total market)

Video - Official Charts / BVA

Videogames - GfK.

 

         

 

 

For More Information please contact:

 

Lynn Li - Lynn@eraltd.org -  Tel: 020 7440 1597

Megan PageMegan@eraltd.org

Steve RedmondSteve@eraltd.org

 

About ERA

 

The Entertainment Retailers Association is the trade grouping representing UK digital services and digital and physical retailers in the music, video and games markets. Formed initially as group of record retailers over 25 years ago, ERA has since grown into a broad-based advocacy group embracing many of the most dynamic and fastest-growing companies in the entertainment industry. ERA members supply the sales data which powers the Official Charts Company (music and video charts) and GfK Chart-Track (videogames). ERA also provides the organisational force behind the UK’s Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores which has become the most successful new music industry promotion of the past two decades. ERA is a strong proponent of open markets, open standards and consumer choice.

 

Share with