After peaking at $259 billion in 2019, commercial AV industry revenue dropped to $214 billion globally in 2020 due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the new 2021 AV Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA) produced by AVIXA. IOTA forecasts revenue will reach $232 billion in 2021, and it will grow to $329 billion in 2026, representing a 7.2-percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Global Trends in the AV Industry
The 2021 IOTA explores the global trends within the commercial AV industry, providing an overview of AVIXA’s current five-year forecasts of revenues for products and services, along with the predominant trends driving these forecasts.
Overall, commercial AV revenues were the least impacted in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Having taken preemptive measures against COVID-19 early and effectively, China significantly recovered during the first half of 2020. Overall annual growth for AV spending in the APAC region registered at -16.1 percent, resulting in revenues of $78.8 billion and contributing 37 percent of global spending.
Robust Recovery Expected
The Americas commercial AV market dropped by 16.7 percent, to $77.6 billion, in 2020. A strong Q1/20 somewhat bolstered those numbers. A robust recovery is expected, with 2021 revenues rising to $83.6 billion.
The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region was the hardest hit due to more challenged economies going into the pandemic and many factors creating rate-of-recovery variations. Twenty-twenty spending on commercial AV in the region declined by 19.7 percent to $57 billion.
Generating Revenue Remotely
Across all solution areas, conferencing and collaboration generated the highest revenue as workers went remote, students participated in distance learning and events went virtual. The solution area is forecast to generate $43.5 billion this year and reach $49.9 billion in 2026.
Digital signage is poised for strong revenue growth, with a forecast of $32 billion this year, increasing to $44.7 billion in 2026. The signage market had strength going into the pandemic, as display prices encouraged proliferation. This remained as pent-up demand, which will propel signage further. Media servers are the leading product category, with $6.9 billion in revenue this year.
The Future of Commercial AV
Overall, content-management hardware, previously termed by AVIXA as streaming media, storage and distribution (SMSD), generates significant revenue and growth over the next five years—$62.3 billion in 2021, with a CAGR of 10.4 percent.
To learn more about the 2021 AV Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis, visit www.avixa.org/iota.
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