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5G ‘will drive $1.3 trillion in new M&E revenues by 2028’

Ovum report predicts 5G will represent 80 per cent of wireless media revenues by 2028

According to a new 5G Economics of Entertainment Report, commissioned by Intel and conducted by Ovum, nearly $3 trillion in cumulative revenue opportunities will be spurred by wireless technology from 2019-2028 and experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half of it (close to $1.3 trillion).

The report says 2025 will be the “tipping point” for 5G, predicting that by then, 57 per cent of global wireless media revenues will be generated by the forthcoming standard, which promises bandwidth up to 100 Gbps. With speeds potentially up to 1,000 times faster than the current 4G protocol, the buffering issues that come with livestreaming and large downloads are predicted to be a thing of the past.

5G’s speed will also enable the growth of immersive services such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), which will generate more than $140 billion in cumulative revenues between 2021 and 2028. Ovum predicts that gaming will be at the forefront of 5G-led innovations, with AR gaming comprising annual revenues of nearly $36 billion globally, or more than 90 per cent of 5G AR revenues.

Ovum predicts that by 2028, new “immersive,” currently non-existent applications will provide an annual revenue bucket of $67 billion, which is the value of the entire current global mobile media market, video, music and games, in 2017.

5G will also have a major impact on mobile display advertising, as higher speeds will enable social and media immersive experiences, leading to an expected market of $178 billion worldwide by 2028.

The average monthly traffic per 5G subscriber will grow from 11.7GB in 2019 to 84.4GB per month in 2028, at which point video will account for 90 per cent of all 5G traffic, according to the report. Ovum also warns that the demand for applications for 5G will mean that evolved 3G and 4G networks will suffer as their capacity will be insufficient to handle the increased video viewing time, content evolution to higher resolutions, more embedded media and immersive experiences.

“5G will inevitably shake up the media and entertainment landscape. It will be a major competitive asset if companies adapt, said Jonathan Wood, general manager of Business Development and Partnerships, 5G Next Generation and Standards at Intel. “If not, they risk failure or even extinction.”