Digital movie purchasing is measured most directly through electronic sell-through (EST), generally a digital transaction that gives the customer ongoing access to a title. The wider market also includes rentals, subscriptions, physical discs, and advertising-supported services, so the figures below distinguish purchase spending from broader home-entertainment measures wherever the sources do.
Key Digital Movie Purchase Statistics
The most useful headline figures span U.S. spending, UK premium transactions, and broader digital-market context:
- U.S. EST spending reached $1.25942 billion in H1 2023, covering the United States and including premium releases.
- U.S. EST spending totaled $1.11682 billion in H1 2024, down 11.32% from H1 2023.
- U.S. EST spending was $564.34 million in Q1 2024, essentially flat year over year.
- U.S. EST spending was $552.48 million in Q2 2024, down 20.51% from Q2 2023.
- U.S. digital home-entertainment spending reached $29.5 billion in 2021, including EST, VOD, and SVOD.
- Digital represented 80% of the combined U.S. theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market in 2021.
- U.S. transactional home entertainment totaled $7.0 billion in 2021, combining physical and digital transactions.
- U.S. subscription home entertainment totaled $25.3 billion in 2021, measured as digital subscription streaming.
- Global home/mobile entertainment reached $78.5 billion in 2021, including movies and television but not sports.
- International digital home/mobile entertainment was an estimated $42.5 billion in 2021, covering countries outside the United States.
- UK home-entertainment consumer spending reached £5.1 billion in 2024, across streaming, transactional, disc, rental, and box-set formats.
- UK digital transactional spending was £381 million in 2024, combining EST and VOD.
- UK premium EST delivered 1.5 million transactions in 2024.
- UK premium EST generated £28.5 million in 2024, with an average unit price of £19.60.
- The number of UK films released at premium PVOD and/or PEST prices rose 15% to 62 in 2024.
- The average UK theatrical-to-PEST/PVOD window was 40 days in 2024.
- Deadpool & Wolverine sold 465,000 UK EST units in 2024, the supplied title-level figure explicitly limited to EST.
- More than 135 U.S. online services provided movies and television shows in 2021, indicating broad service availability rather than purchase participation.
Contents
- U.S. digital movie purchase spending
- Digital movie purchase data across U.S. formats
- Quarterly digital movie purchase trends
- UK digital movie purchase statistics
- Leading 2024 UK movie title data
- Digital movie market scale and service availability
U.S. Digital Movie Purchase Spending Statistics
DEG’s U.S. electronic sell-through series provides the clearest purchase-specific measure in this dataset. The figures are preliminary industry tracking compiled from member, retail, and platform input, and the 2024 report says it has not independently verified all source information.
| Period | U.S. EST spending | Year-over-year result |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2022 | $643.57 million | — |
| Q2 2022 | $592.06 million | — |
| Q1 2023 | $564.35 million | -12.31% |
| Q2 2023 | $695.07 million | +17.40% |
| Q1 2024 | $564.34 million | 0.00% |
| Q2 2024 | $552.48 million | -20.51% |
Source: 2024 Mid-Year Digital Media Entertainment Report and 2023 Mid-Year Digital Media Entertainment Report.
Across the first half of 2023, U.S. EST spending reached $1.25942 billion, up 1.92% year over year. In the first half of 2024, it was $1.11682 billion, down 11.32% year over year; premium releases are included in the DEG purchase measure.
The quarterly movement is uneven rather than a smooth adoption curve. Q1 2023 was below the prior-year quarter, while Q2 2023 rose strongly; Q1 2024 held essentially flat against Q1 2023, followed by a weaker Q2 comparison.
Digital Movie Purchase Data Across U.S. Home-Entertainment Formats
Broader U.S. figures place EST inside a much larger digital and home-entertainment economy. These measures should not be read as movie-purchase totals because digital includes movies and television, while some categories include rentals or subscriptions.
| U.S. measure | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital home entertainment | $14.0bn | $17.4bn | $20.0bn | $26.5bn | $29.5bn |
| Definition | EST, VOD, SVOD | EST, VOD, SVOD | EST, VOD, SVOD | EST, VOD, SVOD | EST, VOD, SVOD |
Source: 2021 THEME Report. The report’s digital totals are broader than movie purchases alone.
The 2021 digital total grew 11% from 2020, following reported totals of $26.5 billion in 2020, $20.0 billion in 2019, $17.4 billion in 2018, and $14.0 billion in 2017. The same report says digital accounted for 80% of the combined U.S. theatrical and home/mobile entertainment market, which totaled $36.8 billion in 2021 and grew 14% from 2020.
Additional category splits show why purchase behavior should be separated from access models:
- U.S. home/mobile entertainment totaled $32.3 billion in 2021 and grew 7% from 2020; it includes digital and disc content.
- U.S. transactional home entertainment was $7.0 billion in 2021, down 21% from 2020; it includes physical sell-through and rental, EST, and VOD, with VOD excluding PVOD.
- U.S. subscription home entertainment was $25.3 billion in 2021, up 19% from 2020; subscription means digital subscription streaming.
Quarterly Digital Movie Purchase Trends and Release Windows
Release timing materially affects quarter-to-quarter comparisons. The 2023 DEG data separates EST purchases from VOD rentals and also distinguishes theatrical titles and catalog content.
| U.S. comparison | Result | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| H1 2023 digital formats | +17.4% | EST, VOD, and SVOD combined |
| H1 2023 EST | Almost +2% | Purchase spending |
| H1 2023 VOD | -4% | Rental spending |
| Q2 2023 theatrical-title EST | +26.5% | Theatrical-title purchase subset |
| Q2 2023 digital rentals | +4.0% | VOD rental metric |
| Q2 2023 catalog digital sales | +1% | Catalog revenue trend |
| H1 2023 catalog digital revenue | -1% | Catalog revenue trend |
Source: 2023 Mid-Year Digital Media Entertainment Report.
The difference between the categories is important: a rise in digital formats does not mean purchases rose by the same amount, because the combined measure includes subscriptions and rentals. The catalog figures are revenue measures, not unit counts, and DEG did not provide a catalog unit count for the reported Q2 2023 result.
For H1 2024, EST spending was down 11% year over year, while VOD fell less than 1%. Catalog titles were down less than 2% across the transactional market, where the catalog measure combines EST and VOD context.
The same 2024 report estimated U.S. premium AVOD/FAST advertising revenue at $5.4 billion in Q2 2024, up more than 51% year over year. That is advertising revenue, not movie-purchase spending, and is included only as adjacent market context.
UK Digital Movie Purchase Statistics for Premium EST
UK data from BASE and the Official Charts Company offers a more detailed view of premium electronic sell-through. The broader UK home-entertainment total reached £5.1 billion in 2024, but it includes SVOD, PVoD, VOD, PEST, EST, discs, rentals, and box sets.
| UK 2024 measure | Result | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Digital transactional spending | £381 million | EST and VOD combined |
| Premium EST transactions | 1.5 million | Premium EST only |
| Premium EST revenue | £28.5 million | Premium EST only |
| Average premium EST price | £19.60 | Derived average per transaction |
| Premium PVOD/PEST films | 62 | Up 15% from 2023 |
| Average theatrical-to-premium window | 40 days | PEST and PVOD combined |
Premium EST is the narrowest purchase measure here: 1.5 million transactions and £28.5 million in 2024. The £19.60 average is a derived premium-EST average reported by BASE, so it should not be generalized to every UK digital purchase or to VOD rentals.
The premium-release supply also expanded. The number of UK films released at premium PVOD and/or PEST prices rose 15% to 62, while the average theatrical-to-PEST/PVOD window was 40 days; these are premium-window measures, not the release timing of every EST title.
Digital Movie Purchase Trends for Leading 2024 UK Titles
Title-level figures illustrate the difference between an explicitly digital-purchase measure and a combined home-entertainment result. Most of the supplied UK title figures combine digital and physical formats, or purchase and rental formats.
| UK title, 2024 | Reported units | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Wonka | 821,000 | Digital and disc home-entertainment units |
| Dune: Part Two | 817,000 | Disc and digital sales |
| Oppenheimer | 713,000 additional | All formats |
| Deadpool & Wolverine | 465,000 | EST units |
| The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes | 347,000 | All-format units |
Among these examples, Deadpool & Wolverine’s 465,000 units is the only explicitly labeled EST figure. Wonka’s 821,000 units, Dune: Part Two’s 817,000, Oppenheimer’s 713,000 additional units, and The Hunger Games title’s 347,000 are broader all-format or combined digital-and-disc measures and therefore cannot be presented as digital-purchase counts.
The top 10 independent UK titles combined sold more than 2 million units in 2024 across all formats. BASE also reported 1,605 new UK visual-home-entertainment releases across disc, EST, and VOD, compared with 1,114 films released in UK cinemas; those release counts provide market context rather than purchase participation.
Digital Movie Purchase Market Scale and Service Availability
The international figures show scale but use broader definitions than EST. Global home/mobile entertainment reached an estimated $78.5 billion in 2021, including movies and television and excluding sports; the estimate combined Omdia international estimates with DEG U.S. data and grew 14% from 2020.
International digital home/mobile entertainment outside the United States was estimated at $42.5 billion in 2021, up 24% from 2020. Omdia’s estimate includes online video EST/iVOD and subscription revenue for movie and television genres, so it is not a global movie-purchase total.
For comparison, U.S. digital home/mobile entertainment was reported at $29.5 billion in 2021, while the international estimate was $42.5 billion. The categories are broader than movie purchases and are not fully like-for-like because the international figure is an Omdia estimate and the U.S. figure is tied to DEG reporting.
Finally, the MPA reported more than 135 U.S. online services providing movies and television shows in 2021. Service availability indicates a large and varied distribution environment, but it does not measure the number of people purchasing movies, purchase frequency, or the share of households using EST.