Activate Consulting Releases Annual Activate Outlook Report on the Future of Technology & Media in 2024

AI Disruption Reshapes the Years Ahead Across Myriad Industries

SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Activate Consulting, the leading management consulting firm for technology, internet, media, entertainment, and sports businesses today released its annual Activate Technology and Media Outlook, a comprehensive report on the state of the internet, technology, media, and entertainment industries. The report, delivered by Activate Consulting CEO Michael J. Wolf, is available on www.activate.com/#outlook.

In this annual report, Activate Consulting focuses on topics such as AI, Gaming, Super Users, Sports Betting and more. The report is based on groundbreaking proprietary research.

The results forecast the following trends throughout the industry including:

• PG. 6, 11: The average US consumer multitasks enough to have a 31:51 hour day. Of that, 13:05 hours are spent on tech and media. Media consumption is coming at the expense of the workday, which has shrunk to 5:20 hrs/day and sleep, which averages 6:38/night. Super Users spend 18:35 hrs/day engaging with media.
• PG. 30: ChatGPT has been the fastest platform to achieve 100M users in 2 months, surpassing TikTok at 9 months and Instagram at 2 years, 4 months. Total visits to ChatGPT are approaching 400M/month.
• PG. 38: Today, 13M people start their web search on an AI service. Within four years, Activate forecasts that number will grow to 90M.
• PG. 37: Open source AI will lead to greater disruption and commoditization, massively altering fields such as education with customized learning, and gaming.
• PG. 26-51: Other sectors ripe for innovation include finance, health, design, data analytics, recommendation engines, and more.
• PG. 33: Consumers are already using AI for writing (30%), content creation (25%), self help (22% users), personal assistants (20%), and more.
• PG. 49: AI VC investments saw 181% growth YoY, with broad use case platforms, software infrastructure, and B2B applications making up over 95% investments.
• PG. 196: Global internet and media businesses will enjoy nearly $400B growth dollars from $2.3T to $2.7T between 2023 and 2027. Over half of that growth will be from global advertising spend. Subscriptions will add $118B.
• PG. 153: Video streaming services will have no choice but to continue to spend on programming as Tik Tok takes share from other platforms.
• PG. 136, 137, 144: Digital video consumption will remain flat through 2027 as Pay TV households decline. Advertising revenue for SVOD will increase 25% annually through 2027
• PG. 161: There will be significant growth in the global music industry reaching $93B in revenue by 2027, driven almost entirely by digital audio. TikTok is the top social platform for music discovery as AI changes music discovery and consumption.
• PG. 85, 86, 89, 91: The global video game market is expected to grow to nearly $200B by 2027, with close to $50B generated in the U.S. There are 2.6B active gamers globally today, up from 2B in 2019. 24% of U.S. gamers are Super Gamers who play 4:19 min/day. Today, there are 57M US esports viewers, up from 39M in 2019 for a CAGR of 10%.
• PG. 96: The top 5 earning paid PC and console games were Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Elden Ring, Madden NFL 23, God of War: Ragnarok, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Globally, the top earning mobile games were 1. Honor Kings ($2.8B), 2.Battlegrounds ($2.1), 3. Genshin Impact ($1.9B), 4. Candy Crush ($1.3B) and 5. Roblox (1.1B).
• PG. 119: Spatial Computing: Apple's entry will catalyze the industry. Nearly every device will be enabled for spatial computing, including gym equipment, kitchen appliances, doorbells, smart TVs, car dashboards and wearable health monitors.
• PG. 105: Enabled by AI, the number of gamers in Metaverse-type environments (Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite) will double from 300M to 600M by 2026. But augmented reality will move to many other areas such as virtual travel, retail, exercise, healthcare and school and work related activities.
• PG. 53, 54: Global eCommerce will reach nearly $10T by 2027, growing twice as fast as physical retail. Amazon now only represents 12% of global eCommerce gross merchandise volume.
• PG. 55: Ecommerce is a marketplace business now with more than 80% of online sales for the top 10 ecommerce companies generated by third-party sellers. Shein, Kohl's and Macy's are among the latest retailers to launch marketplaces.
• PG. 57: US retail media advertising revenue will reach nearly $100B by 2027 and we expect nearly every major retailer to launch a media network. Amazon and Walmart are expected to generate $68B and $10B in retail revenues by 2027, respectively, with Nordstrom, Costco, Home Depot, and CVS among the retailers that have launched media networks.
• PG. 59: TikTok is disrupting online shopping and is a top 5 shopping destination for 18-34 year old adults, after officially launching TikTok Shop marketplace in September 2023.
• PG. 178, 180: Sports betting continues to surge in 35 states in the U.S., with $312B legally wagered in the past 5 years, resulting in $25B in revenue for the last 5 years it's been legal. Wagering will reach $186B annually by 2027.

"This year, AI will reshuffle the power shift between winners and losers across a range of sectors - from gaming and social media to tech, finance, healthcare and ecommerce," said Michael J. Wolf, Activate Consulting CEO and Co-Founder. "The forecasts shared today will profoundly impact technology, media and industries beyond that as we approach 2024 and beyond."

About Activate Consulting
Activate Consulting (Activate) is a next generation management consulting firm focused on technology and media companies. Michael J. Wolf, the former President and COO at MTV Networks, founded the company in 2010. Activate works with CEOs and senior management teams to define strategies, drive innovation, and improve revenue performance in areas such as go-to-market strategy, pricing, consumer insight, and marketing. The firm is known for issuing its annual Activate Technology & Media Outlook report on the state of technology, media, and entertainment industries and is based in New York and San Francisco.

For more information, please visit www.activate.com.

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SOURCE Activate