With the technology industry growth, and an unprecedented year, Deloitte predicts what the future holds for different aspects of the sector in 2022
The technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) practice at Deloitte, has announced its predictions for the sector in 2022. We take a look at some of these predictions below.
Game consoles
As the gaming industry continues to accelerate, Deloitte predicts that the games console market will generate £60.6 billion in 2022, up 10% from 2021. By the start of 2022, Deloitte predicts there will be 900 million console players worldwide. Overall, Deloitte forecasts that console owners will have more than 200 million multiplayer and games subscriptions in 2022. By 2025, these subscriptions will likely generate more than £8.2 billion in revenue globally, up from £4.9 billion in 2020.
Paul Lee, global head of technology, media and telecommunications research at Deloitte, said: “2022 marks the 50th birthday of the games console with the device now a veteran of the technology industry, outlasting camcorders and CD players, among others. We saw usage of consoles spike during lockdown, with many using their devices as a way to socialise when restrictions prevented people from meeting in person. Usage has remained high as, for many gamers, leaving the game may mean disconnecting from friends.
Wearable devices
In 2022, Deloitte predicts that 320 million consumer health and wellness wearable devices will ship worldwide, rising to 440 million units by 2024. This comes as consumers are increasingly using smartwatches and fitness trackers alongside smartphones to track their health and wellbeing, with smart patches also becoming available off the shelf and via prescriptions.
According to Deloitte’s Digital Consumer Trends research published earlier this year, wearable devices saw the biggest increase in ownership out of any technology in the UK in 2021: 40% of consumers now have access to a smartwatch or fitness band, up from 31% in 2020.
NFTs
According to Deloitte non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unique digital identifiers that use blockchain to record ownership of an asset, will generate more than £1.5 billion in transactions for sports media in 2022, about double the value of NFT transactions for sports media in 2021.
Deloitte also predicts that between four and five million sports fans globally will purchase or receive an NFT sports collectible as a gift in 2022.
Theo Ajadi, consultant in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, said: “The 2021–2022 season could be the first in which NFTs start to make a major mark from a revenue perspective and by 2023 it is likely that most major football leagues in Europe will have launched multiple NFT related products.
“NFTs have added rarity to sporting moments and, in the future, every game of every season could generate a new matchday moment solely available to the highest bidder via an NFT.”
Smartphones
With companies around the world focusing on sustainability and reaching net-zero goals, Deloitte looks at the smartphones industry’s impact on the environment.
They predict that smartphones will generate 146 million tons of CO2 or equivalent emissions (CO2e) globally in 2022. 83% of these emissions, will come from the manufacturing, shipping, and first-year usage of the 1.4 billion new smartphones forecast to be sold in 2022. Usage-related emissions from the other 3.1 billion smartphones in use during 2022 will generate an additional 11%, and the remainder will come from refurbishing existing smartphones (4%) and end-of-life processes (1%), including recycling.
Deloitte’s analysis highlights that the single biggest factor that could reduce a smartphone’s carbon footprint is to extend its expected lifetime, with consumers keeping their handsets for longer.
Rafi Addlestone, associate director in Deloitte’s sustainability practice, adds: “With sustainability now firmly on the boardroom agenda, businesses across all sectors are striving to understand the impact of their industry and products on their carbon footprint. The smartphone industry will need to balance product innovation with educating consumers on how best to recycle and prolong use of current and old devices.”
Streaming platforms and TV
2022 will be the final year that traditional television from broadcasters, whether live, time-shifted, or on-demand, collectively makes up more than 50% of video viewing on all screens in the UK, according to Deloitte.
It expects that traditional TV broadcasters’ share of viewing hours among UK consumers – which was 73% as recently as 2017 – to fall to 53% in 2022 and then to 49% in 2023. Meanwhile, time spent viewing content on streaming video on demand (VOD) is predicted to rise from 7% in 2017 to 27% in 2022, and again to 31% in 2023.
By 2027, Deloitte predicts that viewers aged between 4 and 34 will watch most of their video content via social media, followed by streaming channels. In contrast, viewers aged over 34 will continue to favour broadcast content.
Although there was a rise in streaming during 2021, the company thinks that in 2022 at least 150 million paid subscriptions to subscription video-on-demand services (SVOD) will be cancelled worldwide, with churn rates of up to 30% per market. However, overall, more subscriptions will be added than cancelled as the average number of subscriptions per person will rise.
Lee concludes: “Following blockbuster growth during the pandemic, the growth in new SVOD households is likely to slow across the UK, US and Europe. SVOD providers will use various plays to make their subscribers stay. They can team up with telcos to offer discounted bundles; they could offer additional types of content, from podcasts to mobile games; and they can release episodes of the most valued tentpole content weekly.”
TILLYKENYON | Technology Magazine
