UK consumers spent a record-breaking amount of money on digital entertainment products in 2012, with sales hitting a total of £1.033 billion, up 11.4% on the figure from the previous year, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA).

As sales of games, music and video soared, the total value of digital sales has broken the £1 billion barrier for the first time. Kim Bayley, director general at the ERA, commented that this is a great success for British digital entertainment retailers and is a reflection of their efforts and investment in innovations.

In 2012 videogames generated £552.2 million in digital revenues, with online console transactions, social gaming and massive multiplayer online games being the leading categories. Video sales on digital platforms increased by 20.1% last year, while music sales rose by 15.1%. When combined, they delivered less than half of the online returns.

Bayley explained that the figures for music do not include revenues from streaming services like Spotify, Deezer, We7 and Rdio, which are extremely popular among online users.

Still, the association noted that the overall entertainment sector has been going through a tough period over the past year given that total revenues fell by 12% to £4.21 billion. The ERA puts this development down to a combination of no big releases in 2012 and a poorly balanced schedule.