Global AV Market Takes $20 Billion Hit Due to COVID-19, Expected to Recover by 2022 -- AVIXA and Omdia

The global pro Audiovisual (AV) industry took a $20 billion hit thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic but will grow $56 billion from its 2019 peak by 2025, according to the latest research from AVIXA and Omdia. In its 2020 AV Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA), industry association AVIXA in conjunction with Omdia, said the global market would not return to its 2019 peak of $259 billion until 2022.

With the industry expected to be worth $239 billion in 2020, Covid-19 has dramatically reversed promising growth trends, but AVIXA has offered hope in the form of a market value prediction of $315 billion by 2025. This represents a 5.8% five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and will drive industry revenue $56 billion beyond its 2019 level.

In a press release, Sean Wargo, Senior Director of Market Intelligence at AVIXA, said “Regions and industries are being impacted at different degrees and are on different timetables for recovery. For example, Asia Pacific will weather 2020 better than others, because it was the first to be impacted by Covid-19 and the first to re-open its economies.”

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region will have the strongest growth of all regions, with a 7.4% CAGR from 2020 to 2025; compared to 4.7% for the Americas and 4.5% for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In 2025, APAC pro AV revenue will amount to $126 billion, compared to $108 billion for the Americas and $81 billion for EMEA.

Sean Wargo, AVIXA

Although the corporate market continues to be the single largest application area for pro AV products and services ($52 billion in revenues globally in 2020), energy and utility represents the highest growth market. At $7.3 billion, it’s a much smaller slice of the market but, fueled by smart grid and sustainable energy projects, revenue in this area is expected to rise at a CACR of 10.4% from 2020 to 2025. With corporate the largest application area, it’s unsurprising that conferencing and collaboration keeps its top spot as the largest solution area. This segment is expected to generate $38 billion globally in 2020.

Growth is expected for on-site and remote collaboration technologies the workforce return from COVID-19 fueled lock downs, but it won’t be the fastest growing solution area. That spot goes to the security/surveillance/life safety segment that is set to boast an 11.4% CAGR as multiple sectors pump up demand as they respond to the pandemic.

When it comes to products; streaming media, storage, and distribution (SMSD) is projected to be the single largest component of pro AV revenues, generating $68.5 billion in 2020. SMSD includes all the generic and specialty servers and storage used to manage AV content in the back end. Even more impressive than the size is the growth, which at 9.6%, is one of the highest of the categories.