On Friday, IHS and App Annie published a joint report detailing key trends in the digital content market over the past twelve months.
The report, which includes insights into the digital music, digital movies, digital games and mobile apps markets, reaches one critically important conclusion. Across the global landscape, digital content spend has never been bigger.
“Combining IHS and App Annie data has given us a unique view into the digital content ecosystem for 2013,” explains Jack Kent, principal analyst of mobile media at IHS Technology.
“The US has long been a powerhouse in terms of consumer spend on digital content, but we identified stand-out markets where consumers are not only monetizing better, but still have potential for growth,” Kent adds. “These include South Korea, where overall digital spend per capita is much higher than the US, or the UK, which has one of the strongest online music markets.”
Among the report’s key findings are:
- Global consumer spending on digital games, apps, and online movies passed $57 billion in 2013, up almost 30 percent from $44 billion in 2012.
- Online movies – a more mature content market – saw healthy growth, up 21 percent to reach $8 billion globally in 2013.
- The United States leads in digital content spend, while South Korea monetizes better per capita.
- Large gains in game app spend in Japan and South Korea, with 4.4x and 5.8x growth year-over-year, respectively, were a key driver of the growth in mobile apps.
The full report is free to download with registration and can be accessed here.
