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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Digital content revenue to exceed $432 billion

globally by 2026, driven by emerging

subscription models

A new study from Juniper Research reveals that tensive content partnerships to provide regularly updat-
the total market value of digital content will reach ed content libraries that justify ongoing subscription
$432 billion by 2026, rising from $211 billion in costs.
2021. This represents a growth of 105% over the Report co-author Saidat Giwa-Osagie remarked, “Over
next 5 years. This value considers pay-per- half of digital content spend will come from
download revenue, in app content spend, smartphones. However, as subscriptions become in-
subscription revenue and ad spend over digital creasingly competitive, niche areas, such as augment-
content. ed and virtual reality, will need to be considered when
onboarding content partners.”
Juniper Research provides research and analytical ser-
vices to the global hi-tech communications sector and Content consumption habits will evolve
its new study, Digital Content Monetization: Emerging Besides, the report identified two key device channels
Opportunities, Future Outlook & Market Forecasts 2021 anticipated to provide new revenue opportunities over
-2026, identified digital games as the sector to generate the next 5 years: immersive reality headsets and smart
the highest revenue by 2026; accounting for 45% of the speakers. In addition, it predicted that digital content
global market value. It predicted that, as subscription revenue attributable to these device categories will
services increase in popularity, digital games providers grow from $2.4 billion in 2021, to $8.1 billion by 2026;
must differentiate their services through unique content. representing a growth of 275%.
It also highlighted the immediate need for partnerships
between digital content platforms and niche content to However, the research predicts that North America &
best position services for future growth. Europe will account for over 50% of revenue from im-
mersive reality headsets and smart speakers by 2026
Maximizing the value of subscriptions and anticipates that high device ownership will result in
these regions providing the most opportunities for mon-
Furthermore, the report forecasts that there will be over etization over the next 5 years. (Source: Juniper Re-
3.3 billion games users by 2026, rising from 2.7 billion search) ◊
in 2021, and urged games publishers to capitalize on
this growth by offering subscriptions that leverage ex- By MediaBUZZ

April 2021: Immersive Technologies in Marketing 7