There are more positive signs for our entertainment and media sectors as a report by PwC has revealed Britain will retain its place as the second biggest entertainment and media market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Germany is currently leading but the UK is expected by grow by 3% annually.
The growth comes despite a the decline in physical music sales and shows the strength of some of the other entertainment and media sectors. As digital music sales have failed to take up the slack, other sectors are flourishing and helping the market grow.
Internet Advertising
The fastest growing areas will be internet advertising, internet access, out of home advertising, video games and TV advertising.
Of the list, the area in which the UK really shines is internet advertising. It is Europe’s largest internet advertising market and the third highest grossing globally.
The fact that the English language is the most used online language is also likely to be a factor in the strength of the UK’s paid search internet advertising market.
Phil Stokes, Entertainment and Media lead partner at PwC, said:
London is widely considered the digital advertising capital of Europe, and linguistic similarities mean that the UK tends to be the first port of call for US publishers and ad tech players entering the European market.
All of this adds up to a vibrant, and still growing, internet advertising sector.
Let’s go mobile
Part of what makes the UK such a strong market for entertainment and media is the access to internet.
As smartphones and tablets become even more common place in British households (by 2018 50% of the UK population will own a tablet and 73% will own a smartphone) so too will sectors like online advertising, e-books, and video games.
The number of apps downloaded in the UK every year is also set to see a huge rise. It is likely to rise by over 20% every year from 5.8bn in 2013 to 15.5bn in 2018.
Phil Stokes added:
This growth is being driven by the internet and by consumers’ love of new technology, particularly mobile technology and applications powered by analytics and the cloud.