HMV over take Amazon for physical entertainment video sales

The physical entertainment market is hotting up again after years of decline according to a report by Kantar Worldpanel, a global expert in shoppers’ behaviour. The sector is back in growth for the first time since August 2014: up 2.2% year on year which will no doubt please marketplace media sellers, but don’t get too excited – the growth is in selective areas.

The games market grew sales by 26%, offsetting declines of 5.4% and 4.8% in music and video respectively. However this is still the strongest overall growth physical entertainment has seen in over three years.

“It’s been a great quarter for games – a real bright spot in the physical market’s struggle against the rise of digital. Helped by the release of much-anticipated title Destiny, mint games – as opposed to second hand – have led the charge.”
– Olivia Moore, analyst at Kantar Worldpanel

Amazon remains the largest retailer for physical entertainment, growing share by 0.3 percentage points year on year to hold 20.8% of the market.

There’s a surprise though, HMV made the biggest gains, increasing market share by 2.3 percentage points to stand at 18.1%. Already the top seller of music, the past quarter has seen HMV leapfrog Amazon to become number one for sales of physical video too. The retailer increased its share of the video market with the help of a strong performance in new film releases – up 6.0 percentage points to stand at 22.5% – while Amazon’s share remained flat at 20.2%.

The market will now be looking to build on its success in the run up to Christmas, and consoles will have a vital part to play. Early signs are promising, with 850,000 consumers looking to pick up either the Nintendo Switch or Xbox One X in the run up to the festive season. Argos and Amazon benefited most from the gaming revival, continuing to nip at the heels of market leader GAME.”
– Olivia Moore, analyst at Kantar Worldpanel

Physical Entertainment Key takeaways

• Physical media is far from dead but it’s still not seeing stellar growth.
• Both music and video are seeing an ongoing decline, doubtless due to the rise of streaming services.
• DVD sales are being driven by new releases
• The biggest growth area is console games
• The high street is not dead and is giving Amazon competition
• It would appear eBay picked a great quarter to launch The Entertainment Shop