Music streaming is forecast to double by 2026 according to media and technology analysts, MIDiA Research. MIDiA has just published its global music forecasts, with revenue and user numbers projected out to 2026 which show that the market almost double from $19.6 billion in 2018 (in retail terms) to $45.3 billion in 2026.
Growth rates have started to decline reflecting maturation of developed streaming markets such as the US, UK, Sweden, Netherlands and Australia. As the market matures and from 2018 onwards streaming growth will lessen each year, falling from 29% in 2018 to 7% in 2026. Longer term growth will be driven by emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico and India as well as later adopting major markets Germany and Japan.
In subscriber terms, at the end of 2018 there were 278 million paid subscribers, however, due to the impact of family plan accounts, unique subscriptions were only 242 million. The 2 biggest streaming markets in 2018 (US and UK) will remain the largest by 2026 while large markets such as Germany and France will continue to be large, leading markets. Brazil, India, MENA and China will all be established as top 15 global markets by 2026, with the first four each more than doubling revenue compared to 2018.
MIDiA clients can access the report and full dataset here. The report and data are also available for purchase on the MIDiA report store here.
