Report: Market for video surveillance equipment to see continued strong growth

According to new research from IHS Markit, the world market for professional video surveillance equipment grew by more than 9 percent in 2017, which was more than double the growth the market experienced in 2016 (3.9 percent) and well beyond the 1.9 percent growth the industry saw in 2015.

The market research firm attributes the growth to increased government spending on equipment to fight crime and terrorism, as well an uptick in private sector spending on replacing surveillance solutions in retail and commercial installations. IHS is also predicting increased in demand for security cameras in 2018 in conjunction with a slightly lower level of price erosion, resulting in the market for surveillance equipment growing at estimated 10.2 percent and reaching $18.5 billion globally.

“Global demand for security cameras grew rapidly in 2017, but average prices continued to fall,” Jon Cropley, senior principal analyst, video surveillance, IHS Markit, wrote in a research note. “Nevertheless, revenue grew in most countries. Two of the fastest-growing country markets were Brazil and India. A major factor behind the growth in both countries was increased spending by private retail and commercial organizations on HD CCTV systems used to prevent crime.”

In addition, Cropley said that the Chinese professional surveillance market, which accounted for 44 percent of all global revenue, grew by nearly 15 percent last year, while the market excluding the country grew by just 5.5 percent. The high growth in China is being driven by government investment in city surveillance projects and efforts to extend those projects into surrounding rural areas.

Among other analysis highlights from IHS include:

• Although it remains highly fragmented compared to many other markets, the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment is gradually becoming more concentrated. The top 15 vendors accounted for 62 percent of global revenue in 2017.
• 62 percent of all security cameras shipped in 2017 were network cameras. 
• Deep-learning-enabled recorders and servers, a new category this year, are an important element in powering what many expect to be the next generation of video analytics using artificial intelligence. They accounted for just 1 percent of global market revenues in 2017.

For more information about IHS’ Video Surveillance Intelligence Service, click here.