Virtual Reality content to hit US$8.3 billion by 2020

Total global spend on virtual reality (VR) video and games content will reach US$8.3 billion (€7.4 billion) by 2020, up from just US$79 million in 2016 according to Futuresource Consulting.

The research firm said that while VR is still “very much in the ‘innovation’ stage”, this will start to change in the coming months as a variety of first generation headsets hit the market.

“Consumer awareness is currently good for a comparatively new technology, but there is a long way to go, with the important 16-35 demographic in particular needing to be more aware. The big issue is, for all the hype, only 3% of consumers have tried VR,” said Adam Cox, senior analyst, Futuresource Consulting.

“Opportunities to try VR are currently rare for the average consumer. A considerable number of headsets are now available, but in order to try VR consumers have to largely rely on friends or colleagues with headsets or go to trade shows or other similar promotional events.”
According to Futuresource’s research, the content that people are most interested in experiencing in VR is movies and games – with 39% of consumers sampled interested in experiencing movies in VR and 38% in gaming in VR. Only 26% of consumers were found to be interested in experiencing VR sports.

The US$8.3 billion estimated figure includes VR content spend in PC, mobile and console games, digital video ads, pay TV subscriptions and SVoD and TVoD services.