Last year the video industry in Britain celebrated its tenth birthday, and a decade of phenomenal growth. In December 1979, there were 230,000 video recorders in British homes; ten years later, there were 13.8 million. To buy an EMI three-hour blank tape in March 1979 would have cost you £14.50; today this would purchase a three-pack of four-hour tapes and still leave change to spare. By October 1981, there were still only 6,000 video outlets in the UK, of which only half carried a sizeable stock. According to Derek Mann of the Video Trade Association, there are now 5,500 independent specialist dealers, 3,000 high-street multiples such as Woolworth's and W. H. Smith involved in sell-through, and 17,000–20,000 outlets such as corner shops and garages which rent out videos on a relatively small scale.

In 1979, the notion of selling videos for as little as £6.99 would have seemed outlandish; today, within four years of its launch, this is reckoned to be a market worth £300 million a year. It is estimated that 7 million videos a week are now rented, and that 30 million will have been bought in 1989 and that the industry as a whole enjoys an annual turnover of some £1 billion in terms of tape rentals and sales.