Entertainment & media revenues rebounding strongly from pandemic slump; shift to streaming, gaming and user-generated content is transforming industry

PwC

New York (ots/PRNewswire) - The global entertainment & media (E&M) industry has
regained its momentum, with revenues outpacing the economy as a whole. The $2+
trillion industry is on track to grow 6.5% in 2021 and 6.7% in 2022, fueled by
strong demand for digital content and advertising. The renewed growth follows a
challenging 2020, when in-person entertainment plummeted, including a 71%
decline in movie theater box office revenues. These figures come from PwC's
Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021-2025 , the 22nd annual analysis and
forecast of E&M spending by consumers and advertisers across 53 territories.

Other findings in this year's Outlook include:

- The 3.8% decline in global E&M revenue, from US$2.1trn in 2019 to US$2.0trn in
2020, was the biggest year-on-year drop in the Outlook's 22 years. But there
were bright spots in a number of E&M segments created by shifting consumer
demand.
- From 2021 to 2025, we project global E&M revenue to grow at a healthy compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.0%, taking industry revenues to US$2.6trn in
2025.
- Traditional TV/home video remains the largest E&M consumer segment
(US$219.0bn) but will continue to shrink (-1.2% CAGR) over the next five
years.
- Video streaming boomed in 2020 and its growth trajectory will continue.
Streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.6% to
2025, making it an US$81.3bn industry. Meanwhile, cinema revenues are
projected to rebound in 2021 as lockdowns ease but will not recover to
pre-pandemic levels until at least 2024.
- Video game and esports revenues continue their rapid ascent, reaching
US$147.7bn in 2020, with a 5.7% CAGR projected to expand the segment to become
an almost US$200bn business (US$194.4bn) by 2025.
- Virtual reality (VR) is the fastest-growing E&M segment, albeit from a small
base. Its revenues surged by 31.7% in 2020 to US$1.8bn and are projected to
sustain a CAGR of 30%+ over the next five years to reach US$6.9bn business in
2025.
- Music is poised for robust growth following a massive 74.4% slump in live
music revenues in 2020. We expect total music revenues to grow at a 12.8% CAGR
over the next five years, fueled by digital streaming, which will expand to
become a US$29.3 bn business by 2025, along with a return to live
performances.
- Spending on internet advertising rose by 9% to US$336bn in 2020, overtaking
non-internet ad spending for the first time, and is projected for strong
growth of 7.7% CAGR over the next five years.
- Internet access accounted for 34% of E&M spending in 2020 and will increase at
a 4.9% CAGR, from 2020's US$694bn to US$880bn in 2025. Mobile internet access