GLOBAL: Consumer spending on digital content, ranging from games to movies, increased globally by 30% to $57bn in 2013 compared with $44bn in 2012, a new report has found.
The Digital Content Report 2013 – a joint study by IHS, the insight and analytics firm, and App Annie, the app usage tracker – was released in London and San Francisco and revealed that online games, music and movies were key drivers of that growth.
Online movies grew 21% to $8bn in 2013 while music apps saw year-on-year growth of an impressive 77%, The Drum reported, with overall spend on mobile apps rising 2.3x to $16bn.
While the US remained the largest market for digital content in 2013, the report identified other countries with room for growth as well as those with particularly strong categories.
The UK, for example, had one of the strongest online music markets last year, although the IHS report indicated that the nation's rapidly growing market in game apps will overtake online music in 2014.
Similarly, Japan and South Korea were found to be high-growth markets where spend on game apps increased a massive 4.4x and 5.8x respectively and where, at least in Japan, mobile apps are now the leading content category.
South Korea also had a higher level of digital spend per capita than the US, leading the IHS report to state that it was monetizing better than the traditional "powerhouse" of the US.
Russia was also identified as a market with potentially strong growth opportunities because consumer spending on online content is currently relatively low.
Increased adoption of smart devices will drive demand in Russia, the report added, and companies there are also more willing to support ad-financed services than other countries.
Elsewhere in Europe, strong demand for digital games in Germany enabled it to overtake France for digital content spend per capita and the report also noted movies performed well in Germany.
The Digital Content Report 2013 – a joint study by IHS, the insight and analytics firm, and App Annie, the app usage tracker – was released in London and San Francisco and revealed that online games, music and movies were key drivers of that growth.
Online movies grew 21% to $8bn in 2013 while music apps saw year-on-year growth of an impressive 77%, The Drum reported, with overall spend on mobile apps rising 2.3x to $16bn.
While the US remained the largest market for digital content in 2013, the report identified other countries with room for growth as well as those with particularly strong categories.
The UK, for example, had one of the strongest online music markets last year, although the IHS report indicated that the nation's rapidly growing market in game apps will overtake online music in 2014.
Similarly, Japan and South Korea were found to be high-growth markets where spend on game apps increased a massive 4.4x and 5.8x respectively and where, at least in Japan, mobile apps are now the leading content category.
South Korea also had a higher level of digital spend per capita than the US, leading the IHS report to state that it was monetizing better than the traditional "powerhouse" of the US.
Russia was also identified as a market with potentially strong growth opportunities because consumer spending on online content is currently relatively low.
Increased adoption of smart devices will drive demand in Russia, the report added, and companies there are also more willing to support ad-financed services than other countries.
Elsewhere in Europe, strong demand for digital games in Germany enabled it to overtake France for digital content spend per capita and the report also noted movies performed well in Germany.
Data sourced from IHS, App Annie, The Drum; additional content by Warc
