In the next five years, growth in the Irish entertainment and media industry is predicted to be driven by mobile internet services, online advertising, and video streaming subscriptions, says a PwC report. This report shows that the growth rate will be about 2.9% per year from 2024 through 2028, predicting the industry to reach a value of €7.6 billion in 2028 from €6.6 billion in 2023. Although this estimated growth rate falls behind the anticipated global average of 3.9% during the same time frame, resulting in industry earnings of €3.1 trillion, the Irish market is expected to show resilient and robust expansion despite economic, technological and competition challenges.
The PwC report also assessed various industry sectors such as internet advertising, connectivity services, cinema, music, radio and podcasts, newspapers, books, consumer magazines, traditional television, out-of-home (OOH) advertising, video games, and video-on-demand. It took into account the slow projected growth in the video gaming sector, contributing to Ireland’s lagging behind the global average.
Amy Ball, cluster head in the entertainment and media practice at PwC Ireland, mentioned the continuous growth of the global entertainment and media industry, and the concurrent opportunities and risks presented by shifts in consumer preferences and technological progress. She highlighted that innovations such as generative AI are inspiring businesses to reinvent their models.
Conor Forde, director of the practice, emphasised that utilising generative AI should focus on enhancing value creation in a secured and safe manner and comply with the new EU AI Act. He highlighted the need to experiment, iterate and scale up new solutions and processes from the industry side.
The study projects mobile internet services will generate profits of approximately €1.6 billion by 2028, with 5G technology predominating as the chief mobile access method from the following year. Revenue from online advertising is anticipated to attain nearly €1.8 billion by the close of the given timeline, fuelled by an increase in video advertising.
Furthermore, the market for video-on-demand has seen its value more than doubled since 2019, accumulating profits of around €196 million in 2023. This figure is expected to surge to nearly €299 million by 2028, as hinted by PwC’s predictions.