The UK video entertainment market is expected to remain steady, with total consumer spending projected to increase by 2% in 2025, reaching £11.4 billion. Futuresource Consulting’s latest Video Insights UK report indicates that subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) will be the primary driver of growth, alongside a stronger performance at the box office and signs of stabilization in transactional video.
James Duvall, Principal Analyst at Futuresource Consulting, noted that the market is continuing to grow as the decade progresses. He explained that SVoD is expanding, but its growth is interconnected with Pay-TV, the recovery of cinemas, and renewed consumer loyalty to transactional video, all reflecting the market’s resilience and evolution.
Futuresource forecasts that SVoD spending will rise by 6% in 2025, making up approximately 40% of the total market value. Subscription stacking remains common, with UK households holding over 52 million subscriptions—a 12 million increase since 2020. This growth is being supported by price adjustments and tiered offerings targeting multiple audience segments through premium and ad-supported packages.
Despite the momentum in streaming, Pay-TV is still expected to command the largest single share of spending at 45% in 2025. Futuresource’s modeling indicates that SVoD revenues are likely to surpass Pay-TV by 2029. For now, however, legacy platforms maintain their position due to entrenched consumer habits and the appeal of live sports.
Following a challenging 2024, when strike-related delays affected film releases, UK cinemas are on track to recover. By the end of 2025, box office revenues are projected to exceed £1 billion for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, fueled by major franchises, new intellectual properties, and a diverse range of genres attracting audiences to theaters.
The transactional market, which combines digital and physical formats, is beginning to stabilize. Within digital formats, electronic sell-through (EST) accounts for nearly two-thirds of spending, with premium formats helping to increase average transaction values. Blu-ray continues to support the physical segment, representing almost 60% of packaged media sales. While overall volumes are declining long-term, a dedicated collector base is sustaining physical formats and slowing the rate of decline.
Looking ahead, Futuresource projects that the UK video entertainment market will grow at a modest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just over 1.2% between 2025 and 2029. SVoD is expected to continue driving growth, but box office and transactional formats will also play significant roles, particularly as audiences embrace more diverse viewing options across formats.
Duvall emphasized that the UK market is no longer simply transitioning from Pay-TV to streaming. Instead, it is evolving into a balanced ecosystem across subscriptions, ad-funded services, cinema, and physical and digital formats. He expects this interplay to become a defining structural feature that will shape the growth of all segments in the industry.
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