The value of digital content is predicted to reach $432 billion by 2026, led by gaming, a whopping 105% increase from $211 billion in 2021.
That's according to a new report from Juniper Research, which factored in pay-per-download revenue, in app content, subscription revenue--including news subscription models expected to fuel some of that growth, and ad spending. Games accounted for 45% of the total.
The report predicts that there will be more than 3.3 billion game users by 2026, up from 2.7 billion this year. Two big growth areas will be immersive reality headsets and smart speakers, with those two the best opportunities for monetizing the growth in gaming. North America and Europe are predicted to account for the majority of revenue from both of those.
"Over half of digital content spending will come from smartphones," said report co-author Saidat Giwa-Osagie remarked. "[A]s subscriptions become increasingly competitive, niche areas, such as augmented and virtual reality, will need to be considered when onboarding content partners."
