TV/Films Beat Gaming As Biggest Entertainment Industry In 2023

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Abdullah Waseem

At T4G, my task is to cover the latest news around the gaming globe ASAP and with the utmost precision. I adore all the games and respect all the devs behind the amazing games that we get all year. So, whether it’s a PC or a Console game, I got it all covered. 

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The gaming industry has been the biggest entertainment market in the world for as long as one can remember, with games like GTA 5 hitting more than $700 million in revenue in 12 months, showing how big the industry is.

However, a new report has revealed that film and TV have finally overtaken gaming as the biggest entertainment market in the UK. 

Why it matters: For the past 11 years, the gaming market kept its throne as the bigger industry among the two, but the empire has now been toppled. And there are a few major reasons for that.

ERA is the UK trade body that represents all three of these industries. According to their numbers, gaming held a revenue of £4.74 billion in 2023, while video-based entertainment topped that with £4.9 billion.

Gaming saw an increase of 2.9% over the last year, while film and TV grew a massive 10% in revenue. The video-based industry was mainly driven by subscriptions like Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, and others.

The music industry also saw its best year since 2001. It saw a massive increase of 9.6% in revenue and ended the year with £2.2 billion in 2023.

2012 was the last year video-based media managed to take the lead over gaming; come 2023, it has happened again after 11 years. This is largely because the gaming industry hasn’t seen the best of the years in 2023.

While various titles were released in 2023, developers and studios had to suffer in the process. 2023 marked one of the worst years as many studios made a number of layoffs, struggling to deal with the risks of this industry.

Still, the industry grew in revenue. Ultimately, gaming prevailed despite its shortcomings from 2023, highlighting hope for a brighter future in 2024 and beyond.

Abdullah Waseem

News Reporter

Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.