US Edition: Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024-2028

Seizing growth opportunities in a dynamic ecosystem

PwC’s 25th annual Global Entertainment & Media Outlook offers an in-depth, five-year forecast of evolving forces that will likely shape an industry on track to be a $3.4 trillion market by 2028. Here’s a snapshot of what we found and what’s to come.

Large new revenue pools will bring future growth in the US

In 2028, an additional US$597 billion in revenues will be available to E&M industry participants, compared with 2023. As business models are transformed, companies must understand precisely where new pools of revenues will form. See below for four key segments of opportunity.

The world’s biggest market and the nexus of the global streaming revolution will see total OTT video revenue increase at a healthy 7.7% CAGR over the forecast period, from US$69.3bn in 2023 to US$100.5bn in 2028, ahead of the world average at a 7.4% CAGR. By this point, the US will account for nearly half of global OTT revenue. But achieving this milestone will rely on US operators reinventing their business models based on profligate spending pinned to overambitious growth and profit targets.

The US artificial intelligence (AI) market is a global center for innovation and investment, reflecting the country’s position at the forefront of the technology’s development internationally. Our recent survey of CEOs shows that nearly half of US CEOs see GenAI boosting profits this year, with 61% expecting it to improve the quality of their products and services. Thus far, much of the discussion surrounding AI in E&M has focused on reducing and controlling costs—rather than driving new revenue streams. But really, the open question remains precisely how GenAI will translate into higher revenues and help companies accelerate their pursuit of revenue pools.

As with other sectors of the tech and telecoms industry, most notably the streaming revolution, the US is the epicenter and world’s largest market for Internet access by some distance. Both the size of the US market and the high average revenue per user (ARPU) rates mean that by the end of the forecast period it will be worth about US$52.7bn more annually than the combined value of the world’s second-, third- and fourth-biggest markets in China, Japan and India. The drive in Internet access revenue is being fueled by consumer demand for more-sophisticated and more-powerful services, with AI the most-prominent emerging technology.

It’s increasingly challenging to drive revenue growth by selling E&M products directly to users. Thus, real opportunity lies in what companies are willing to pay to reach consumers, whether they are on phones, playing games, on the road, or on e-commerce sites. Growth in the US Internet advertising market rose 7.3% year-on-year in 2023 to reach a value of US$225.0bn and will continue to expand at a 9.7% CAGR to reach US$357.5bn by 2028. The connected TV video advertising segment has been the fastest-growing part of the US Internet advertising market in recent years, as its share continues to take spend from more mature formats, such as traditional linear TV.

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Perspectives from the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024–2028

As the E&M industry grows to US$3.4 trillion by 2028, large new revenue pools—in advertising, streaming and emerging markets—are forming. Read the Perspectives report for our consumer-friendly summary of this year’s key findings, the latest trends, and our deepest insights into the E&M market.

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