Going to the cinema ‘will soon be a niche hobby’

FOR many of us, going to the cinema and curling up with a good book are two of life’s chief pleasures.

But these popular pastimes could be relegated to niche hobbies – as people opt to watch Netflix or play video games instead.

By 2021, Britons will spend more money on computer games than they do on books, according to a report by accountancy firm PwC. We are expected to spend £5.2billion a year on video games by then, putting us behind only America, China, Japan and South Korea as the world’s biggest spenders on gaming.

Spending on books is actually forecast to rise as young readers ditch e-books for paperbacks. However, the figure will only jump from last year’s £4.6billion to £5billion, PwC said. Reading for pleasure is not the only activity that is falling by the wayside. Less than four years from now, people in the UK will spend more cash on streaming serv- ices such as Netflix than they do on cinema tickets. Some £1.3billion will be spent at the box office, compared to £1.4billion on TV-on-demand services, the study said.

Streaming services have enjoyed a surge in popularity thanks to producing their own shows, such as The Crown. Phil Stokes of PwC said: ‘Four of the top ten programmes watched via subscription video on demand in 2015 were original productions showing that for consumers, fresh, high quality, content is king.’

The findings are likely to dismay tradi- tionalists, but many youngsters have already made the switch. Four out of ten aged between eight and 19 watch streaming services more than ‘old-fashioned’ TV, according to a report by MediaCom, while two-thirds of children aged between 8 and 12 own a smartphone.

And last year, an Ofcom report found that youngsters now spend more time online than they do watching television. It also found that under-fives now spend an average of four hours a day in front of some kind of screen.