Digital sales of music, films and games passed £1bn for the first time in the UK last year, with an 11.4 per cent increase in downloads meaning that over a quarter of the entertainment market is now digital.

The data from the Entertainment Retailers Association reveals that digital video sales were up 20.3 per cent from 2011, with music sales up by 15.1 per cent and video game sales increasing by 7.7 per cent.

Video games are still where most of the money is at, worth more than video and music sales combined and making £552m, over half of the £1bn total.

Whilst online retailers benefited from the rise in digital downloads, high street shops suffered from a decline in physical entertainment sales. Physical video game sales fell by 26.4 per cent, whilst CD sales dropped by 14.9 per cent, and DVD and Blu-Ray sales declined by 11.4 per cent.

Overall, the entertainment market shrank in 2012, with combined sales of music, films and videogames across physical discs and digital downloads down 12 per cent to £4.21bn.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner