IHS: Global video surveillance equipment market to see near double-digit growth for third straight year

According to a new report from IHS Markit, the global professional video surveillance equipment industry is on track to see yet another strong year of growth in 2019 as the research firm forecasts that the market will expand by 9.3% this year, driven by demand for improvements in security, public safety and business intelligence.

Additionally, IHS predicts that worldwide market revenue will reach nearly $20 billion this year, up from just over $18 billion in 2018. This continued strong performance also follows several years of impressive growth for the market, including increases of 9.3% and 8.7% in 2017 and 2018 respectively.  The last three years also stand in stark contrast to 2016 (3.9%) and 2015 (1.9%) in which the market saw weaker growth.

“The professional video surveillance equipment market’s recent growth reflects the continued high spending on security in both the public and private sectors,” said Jon Cropley, senior principal analyst, video surveillance, at IHS Markit. “On the public side, governments are investing in video surveillance equipment to enhance citizen safety and to equip smart city projects. In the private sector, companies are adding video surveillance gear to combat crime and to gather new types of business intelligence.”

China’s Surveillance Boom Continues

As in years past, IHS noted that China is significantly driving the expansion of the global professional video surveillance equipment market. In 2018, for example, the country accounted for nearly half of the global business, with 45 percent of worldwide revenue. In addition, China’s market expanded by 13.5% last year. Excluding China, IHS said that the global market grew by just 5%.

“A major factor propelling China’s higher growth is the government’s Xue Liang program, which promotes investment in both city surveillance projects and the extension of city surveillance systems into surrounding rural areas,” Cropley said. “The Xue Liang program is forecast to conclude in 2020, causing China’s growth to decelerate after that year. However, in the meantime, Xue Liang will continue to generate strong growth for the Chinese and global surveillance equipment markets.”

Top Vendors Consolidate Their Market Grip

Although the market remains highly fragmented, IHS said the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment is gradually becoming more concentrated. In fact, the top 15 vendors accounted 65% of global revenue in 2018, compared to 52% in 2014.

IHS also found that the surveillance market’s migration from analog to IP is also continuing to accelerate as a total of 70% of all security cameras shipped in 2018 were network cameras. At the same time, global shipments of HD CCTV cameras, also known as analog HD cameras, fell in 2018.

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