The U.K. is now spending nearly half a billion pounds on video streaming, according to market research from Mintel.
The firm found that sales from video streaming increased by 56 percent in 2014 to £437 million ($650.4 million). Spending is on track to break the £500 million ($744 million) mark this year.
Just ten years ago, the industry was worth £28 million ($42 million), but streaming services such as Netflix have created a “dramatic” growth for the segment. Mintel forecasts that spending on video streaming in the U.K. will exceed £1 billion ($1.5 billion) in 2019.
The research found that two-thirds of the video market’s revenue still comes from physical DVDs or Blu-ray discs, though physical video income was down 6.5 percent in 2013, compared to a 45 percent lift in VOD revenue and a 77 percent increase in subscription services income.
Netflix is the leading subscription video streaming service in the U.K., according to Mintel, with a 20 percent share of the overall streaming market (in terms of viewers, not revenue). It’s more than double its nearest rival, Amazon Instant Video, which has a 9 percent share.
