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Surveillance equipment market set for third year of near double-digit growth

Marking a third year of growth, the global professional video surveillance equipment market is set to expand by 9.3 per cent in 2019—this is according to the IHS Markit Video Surveillance Intelligence Service.

Research firm IHS says worldwide market revenue will reach $19.9 billion in 2019, up from $18.2 billion in 2018. The strong performance this year follows 9.3 per cent growth in 2017 and an 8.7 per cent expansion in 2018. This three-year growth spurt comes after weaker growth of 3.9 per cent in 2016 and 1.9 per cent in 2015.

“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, in a research note. “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.”

According to IHS, China is driving the expansion of the market. In 2018, the country accounted for nearly half of the global business, with 45 per cent of worldwide revenue. China’s market expanded by 13.5 per cent last year. Excluding China, the global market grew by just 5 per cent.

“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.”

IHS says that although it remains highly fragmented compared with many other markets, the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment is gradually becoming more concentrated. The top 15 vendors accounted for 65 per cent of global revenue in 2018, compared to 52 per cent in 2014.

The surveillance market is also shifting toward the use of network cameras, which are cameras that have their own internet protocol (IP) address and built-in wired or wireless network capabilities, according to IHS. A total of 70 per cent of all security cameras shipped in 2018 were network cameras.

Lastly, IHS notes that global shipments of HD analog cameras fell in 2018.