UK entertainment industry to reap HUGE financial rewards over next four years
THE UK’s entertainment scene is set to become richer in the next four years with surging demand for video games, e-books and the internet, writes David Craik.
According to accountants PwC, the UK’s Entertainment and Media (E&M) market will be worth £64billion by 2018, up from £58.6billion in 2013. It will remain the second biggest market in Europe behind Germany.
Main drivers will be a 5.1 per cent growth in the video games market to £4.1billion helped by new games such as Fifa 14 and new consoles. Mobile games revenue will jump 6.9 per cent.
The growth is being driven by consumers’ love of new technology. They demand a social experience as well as a personal one
Sales of e-books are tipped to continue climbing and will even overtake print copies in 2018. UK film box office revenues will rise by 2.8 per cent to hit £1.4billion.
“The growth is being driven by consumers’ love of new technology. They demand a social experience as well as a personal one,” said Phil Stokes, PwC’s E&M lead partner.
The UK’s internet advertising market, already Europe’s largest and the third biggest in the world, will benefit further, growing 9.3 per cent to £9.6billion.
“London is widely considered the digital advertising capital of Europe and linguistic similarities mean the UK tends to be the first port of call for US publishers,” Stokes said. “All of this adds up to a vibrant, and still growing, internet advertising sector.”