Sales of video games help boost dwindling entertainment market
CONSUMERS still buying video games on the high street helped provide a welcome boost to the physical entertainment market in the last quarter and stem the rate of decline.
Figures released yesterday by Kantar Worldpanel show that the physical entertainment market – sales of CDs, DVDs and games – shrank by three per cent in the 12 weeks to 5 July.
This was a big improvement on the seven per cent decline recorded at the same time last year, despite consumers increasingly opting to download or stream entertainment.
Games were the strongest performer thanks to software sales for the PS4 and Xbox One. Retailer Game led the charge, increasing its market share to 31.7 per cent from 29.1 per cent last year.
The video sector also improved, with a 3.6 per cent decline in value compared to a drop of 9.5 per cent last time, driven by Amazon and Tesco.