Discs still a major player in entertainment market

Sales of DVDs and Blu-rays confounded the doom-mongers by rising a total of 8 per cent to £474m in December against a year earlier, despite the rise of online formats and the threat of piracy.

British films fuelled the boom as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, The Inbetweeners Movie and The King's Speech were among the top-sellers.

The data, from the British Video Association, showed consumers still wanted to give physical gifts at Christmas. DVD sales rose by 6 per cent in December, while Blu-rays were up 27 per cent.

The annual home video market is worth £2.25bn a year. Overall sales of physical discs fell 4.9 per cent in value last year while online and digital streaming rose 15 per cent.