Global Entertainment Sectors by Size

The entertainment industry remains one of the world’s largest. Needless to say, people love to be entertained, whether through music, film, or gaming.

23:02 27 June 2023

The entertainment industry remains one of the world’s largest. Needless to say, people love to be entertained, whether through music, film, gaming, or reading. This is so true that a Statista report shows the media and entertainment market grew by 10.4 percent between 2020 and 2021 to attain a global revenue value of $2.34 trillion. The market is expected to maintain this trajectory and be worth $2.93 trillion by the close of 2026. Below, we look at the sectors that make up the global entertainment industry and their contributions to this impressive bottom line.

TV Industry ($472 Billion)

The TV industry perfectly embodies the common phrase, “the future is television.” This is because, despite the many new ways to consume content available today, nearly every home harbors a TV. Gamers, gamblers, music fans, and readers alike still like to sit in front of the TV every so often and catch the news or watch a program. This interest has in fact been rekindled by the advent of streaming technology, which avails quality TV programming to viewers at affordable prices.

This then explains why PwC projects that TV licensing and subscriptions will continue growing at a CAGR of 3.5 percent. True to form, worth about $236 billion in 2018, the global cable and broadcasting TV market raked in $472.3 billion in 2021.

Gambling ($449 Billion)

The gambling industry is massive to say the least. This figure accounts for revenue collected from different streams across the sector, including physical casinos, online casinos, and sports betting platforms. IBISWorld estimated the global gambling market to be worth $285 billion in 2015 and Grand View Research places the value at $449.04 billion in 2022.

And while casinos still bring in much of the money, it is the online gambling faction that has been responsible for much of the growth. The global online gambling market size was worth $63.53 billion in 2022 and is currently at $88. 65. It is expected to grow at an 11.7 percent CAGR between now and 2030. Much of this is due to the increased accessibility created by online and mobile gambling. Bringing popular casino games to the digital space has widened the audience for gambling exponentially. To test this theory, click here to see just how easy it is to play a digital version of Las Vegas slots from home.

Video Game Industry (252 Billion)

The technologies and circumstances that have fueled growth in online gambling have had a similar effect on video gaming. Found suddenly unable to leave their homes, gamers increasingly binged on gaming content, helping grow the sector from a niche market to one of the largest entertainment industry earners. The availability of online games has also increased the consumer base for the video game industry, allowing people previously barred by console and cost-related constraints to join the rapidly-growing online gaming community. This may be why the sector was worth $159.3 billion in 2020 and $229.39 in 2022. 

Books and Digital Publishing ($170 Billion)

Reading may seem like a dated form of entertainment but the sector’s ability to embrace digitalization has meant it remains a vibrant earner in the entertainment industry. Ebooks and digital publications brought in $41.35 billion in 2022 and $45.98 billion in 2023 while books earned the industry $89.09 billion in 2022 and $91.39 billion in 2023.

Film Industry (77 Billion)

The film industry has been experiencing a decline in value over the past few years. Analyst firm IBISWorld explains that this could be the result of multiple factors, most notably the availability of movie content online. Streaming services have meant that fewer people are buying physical film copies and recent moving restrictions significantly reduced movie theater earnings. Consequently, the movie industry which was worth about $126 billion in 2012 had fallen to $90 billion in 2014, $89 billion in 2015 and is now worth $77.2 billion. 

Music Industry (26 Billion)

Despite being the most popular form of entertainment, music contributes the least to entertainment industry revenue. The sector’s earnings have been dwindling, especially between the years of 2015 and 2020. Experts posture that this downward trajectory could be due to the continued refusal of large firms to embrace new revenue streams. Physical album sales took a big hit following the advent of streaming technology. Music today is available on streaming platforms like Spotify and Deezer, which are so popular they bring in most of the revenue earned by the music sector.

 Due to these economic and consumption model changes, the music industry has been continually encouraged to leverage new technologies. It seems to have done so as the sector has been on an upward trajectory recently. Billboard reports that the global music industry is worth $26.2 billion in 2021 up 9 percent from 2022’s $25.9 billion, which was up 18.5 percent from $21.6 billion in 2020.

Wrapping Up: The Future of Entertainment

Entertainment sustains human society so it makes sense that it is one of the biggest industries in the world. The past several decades have marked many milestones for entertainment, including the invention of cinema at the turn of the century and the boom experienced by the online gaming sector. Moving forward, the industry is expected to maintain its viability as long as it continues to embrace and leverage new technologies – and there are many of those in store.