Kantar Worldpanel has reported that the physical entertainment market endured a tough Q4, with a decline of 7.8% across music, video and gaming in the 12 weeks to December 18.  

Music and video both experienced double digit declines, with sales falling by 11% and 12% respectively, with gaming was down 2.7%.  

According to Fiona Keenan, strategic insight director at Kantar Worldpanel, the decline in sales is due primarily to a dip in gift purchasing and a dearth of hit albums.

“The music market needs platinum selling albums to sustain its performance,” she said. “Albums like Adele’s 25 can be worth more than 10% of the market in one quarter alone and with no major albums this period, music sales have taken a hit. There’s already a lot of hype around Ed Sheeran’s upcoming album release in March so we can expect a clear boost to the market.

“The increasing popularity of digital entertainment products is making it ever more difficult for retailers to maintain the relevance and excitement of giving physical entertainment products as gifts, and it’s not been an easy Christmas as a result.  Over one million fewer shoppers purchased physical music or video as gifts this quarter, equating to around £31 million lost.  Gift cards for digital music and video aren’t popular enough to offset this as yet, so it’s vital that retailers think creatively about how to use their stores as a platform to promote online gifting.”

Kantar’s report found Argos to be the best performing high street retailer over the fourth quarter, increasing its market share by 2.8% to 9.9%. This was mostly down to its 19.1% share of the games market.

You can view the breakdown of retail market share for physical entertainment below.

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