“The professional AV industry and economies in general have suffered the effects of COVID-19. The pandemic has broadly impacted the short- and long-term outlook for economic growth and business activity in the EMEA region, thus prompting the reductions in our forecast,” stated Sean Wargo, Senior Director of Market Intelligence for AVIXA. “But recovery is on the horizon. Growth for the professional AV industry in EMEA will significantly outpace the expansion of the regional economy, with industry growth estimated to range between 5.1% and 4.8% over the next few years.”
Eastern Europe leads the AV industry results in EMEA, accounting for 39% of regional revenue, a proportion that is expected to remain steady through 2025. Eastern Europe is projected to reach $25.3 billion in 2020 and $30.6 billion in 2025. The Sub-Saharan African market will experience the most dynamic growth in the region, with a 6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from $1.7 billion to $2.2 billion during the period 2020-2025. The Central European professional AV market is forecast to grow from $9.4 billion in 2020 to $12.5 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 5.8%.
In EMEA, the media and entertainment market stands out among the other industries that make up the professional AV sector, thanks to its relatively solid performance during the COVID-19 crisis, with revenues falling by only 5.6% in 2020 and projected growth of 8.5% in 2021. The consumption of digital content—from mobile apps and TV to gaming—has grown significantly during the pandemic. This has led to increased business in the production, distribution and storage equipment, software, and services sectors.
In an era of cyber threats and nationalistic trends, the military and defense industry is expected to invest heavily in professional AV technology in the medium and long term, driving growth from $3.6 billion in 2020 to $4.4 billion in 2025. Government and military, education, and corporate sectors will generate the greatest demand for security, surveillance, and life protection solutions in the short and long term as they seek to upgrade their infrastructure to manage monitoring and response needs in the face of the pandemic.
Developments in digital signage will be driven by increased on-site and Out-of-Home (OOH) communication needs, especially for new health and safety protocols. Digital signage functionalities will merge with those of surveillance and security. This applies to both employee-facing and customer-facing situations. For example, currently installed surveillance cameras will be enhanced with AI, software, and displays, and used to provide better business analytics that allow for the evaluation of customer consumption scenarios, as well as tracking their journey through stores and creating heat maps to identify the most visited areas.
Looking at the ranking of professional AV solutions in EMEA from 2020 to 2025, conferencing and collaboration services lead the region, thanks to the prevalence of working from home. Revenues are expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.6% during this period. Spending in this area will continue to grow as existing infrastructure gives way to cloud-based services. Cloud features such as flexibility, scalability, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness will help drive collaboration in both the short and long term.
The IOTA report is produced by AVIXA in conjunction with Omdia (formerly IHS Markit), a global research and intelligence firm specializing in a range of underlying markets across the supply chain, many of which overlap with key components of the professional AV industry. This specialization enables connections with manufacturers, distributors, integrators, and large end-user firms that offer and consume AV products and solutions. This translates into data sources that are modeled in conjunction with macroeconomic data to generate the projections shown.
Learn more about the 2020 AV Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA) EMEA Summary .
