Film industry revenue in the United Kingdom (UK) 2009-2019, by platform

Film on television in the United Kingdom generated 865 million British pounds of revenue in 2019, a decrease compared to the previous year at 895 British pounds. Digital video revenues in comparison rose consistently during the period from 2009 to 2019. From a revenue of just 126 million British pounds in 2009, the digital video industry declared an income of nearly one billion British pounds by 2019 making it the fastest growing film platform today.

The decline of physical video

Since the rise of digital services such as video on demand, income from physical video retail and rental have continued to decline year by year. The effect of this is also reflected in the number of physical video retail outlets which have been decreasing since 2015, indicating the impact this has had on brick and mortar businesses. Consumer spend on physical retail video in Europe as a whole has similarly been dropping since 2012. Clearly, this is a widespread trend. When it comes to purchasing or renting films, the convenience and sheer variety found on digital platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video has led to the industry shifting its focus away from physical formats.

UK produced films still a minority

In 2015 the theatrical film industry brought in its largest revenue at 1285 million British pounds. A majority of UK box office films however are still produced with US studio backing as shown in figures from 2003 onwards, the only exception being 2014 where the number of UK independently produced films surpassed foreign-backed by 5.4 percent.