‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Was the U.K.’s Biggest-Selling Title of 2024 as Streaming Saves Video Spending

In the United Kingdom, the duo comprising Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, known for their roles as Deadpool and Wolverine respectively, emerged as the top-selling home entertainment title of the year 2024.

A Marvel film filled with strong language led UK sales charts, recording 561,917 purchases, over 80% of which were digital downloads. These statistics are provided by the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) in their latest report.

The action movie featuring the return of the renowned Australian actor in his famous X-Men character, was a top seller in physical video formats, but overall revenue in that sector experienced a decrease of 7.9%, amounting to £156.3 million ($194 million). Despite an almost 5% increase in Blu-ray sales compared to 2023, earnings still fell short of the 2022 figures.

The action movie with the Australian actor back as his X-Men character was popular on DVD and Blu-ray, but it didn’t make as much money overall because sales have been declining by 7.9%. Even though Blu-ray sales were slightly higher this year than last, they’re still lower than in the previous year.

The positive aspect is that overall video spending increased significantly in the past year, primarily fueled by streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV. These subscriptions saw a growth of 8.3% to reach approximately £4.5 billion ($5.6 billion), accounting for nearly 90% of the total video revenue last year.

Once again, for the second consecutive year, the video sector emerged as the leading one among the three assessed by ERA, registering a growth of approximately 6.9% and generating revenues amounting to roughly £5 billion, equivalent to about $6.2 billion.

Given how visually-driven the entertainment world has become, it’s not shocking that video content is now leading the pack in this sector,” commented ERA CEO Kim Bayley. “The shift towards subscription video services has significantly enhanced the viewing experience for many. The task at hand for video is to discover a tangible form that can replicate for moving images what vinyl records have achieved for music.

In the world of music, artists such as Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Sabrina Carpenter spurred British consumers to invest more in recorded music than any other year on record in 2024, according to ERA. The total consumer spending on recorded music, which includes both subscriptions and purchases, hit a staggering £2.4 billion ($3 billion), surpassing the previous peak of £2.2 billion ($2.7 billion) set back in 2001.

It came as no shock that Swift’s latest album, titled “The Tortured Poets Department“, was the best-selling album of the year with a staggering 783,820 copies sold in Britain. Discover the top 10 selling albums for the rest of 2024 in the U.K. by following this link.

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2025-01-08 13:54