Movies especially within the entertainment industry are expected to contribute a significant amount of revenue to the market for the forecast period.
The global virtual production market size is expected to reach $4.71bn by 2028 and register a CAGR of 16.7% from 2021 to 2028, according to a report by Research and Markets.
The rising popularity of virtual production in the media and entertainment industry, combined with its capabilities to create high definition visuals and real-time virtual environments, is the key factor propelling the growth of the market.
The technology enables filmmakers to reduce the demand for on-set production teams and crew members by integrating virtual background environments with live-action footage. This allows for a significant reduction in video production costs. Furthermore, technological advancements in virtual production help broadcasters improve their operational efficiency with the least physical presence of technicians in the broadcasting room.
For instance, in March 2020, Sky Sports implemented a virtual production suite, which has enabled its teams to create content and stream it remotely. The suite connected 48 virtual workstations and an equal number of direct-to-workstation connections for remote editing, simultaneous live programming, and the distribution of live clippings directly on social media platforms. Although virtual production can produce a film with better visuals and low production costs, it also poses some challenges, especially arising from the lack of training and experience among industry professionals.
With the advent of artificial intelligence, virtual production technology has witnessed significant improvements in the quality of its computer-generated graphics. Design and visualisation of all complex scenes in a three-dimensional model have also become convenient, which can be further edited and reviewed in a real-time environment. The technology is positively impacting the market by reducing the burden of transportation and logistics costs of crew members and equipment. It enables filmmakers to capture on-set live-action scenes through simul-cams or virtual cameras and seamlessly merge computer-generated 3D graphic elements with the film’s live shooting footage to conclude with the final visual effects.
Artificial intelligence facilitates pre-production support that helps to accelerate video production work. In the previous decade, pre-production works heavily relied on unstructured box office data and limited demographic information related to viewers, leading to the development of less engaging video content. However, now artificial intelligence can generate insights from large data sets collected from various platforms to understand the proposed content’s acceptance and interest.
The growing implementation of virtual production in the gaming industry is also working well for the market. Factors such as leveraging a three-dimensional environment increased the focus of companies on developing compact and comfortable virtual gaming devices, and constant technological innovation on virtual production platforms, such as 3D audio, untethered virtual reality headsets, and cloud scalability, are expected to drive market growth across gaming application. Furthermore, the introduction of immersive experience allows for 360 views of graphic content and a new level of gaming interaction, enabling players to control and modify the gaming environment through their senses. Hence the increased application of virtual production technology in games is expected to propel the growth of the market.
In terms of end-user, the movie segment is expected to contribute a significant amount of revenue to the market over the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to the rising demand for visual effects and a three-dimensional model in movies.
The key players in the market are 360Rize, Adobe, Arashi Vision Inc. (Insta 360), Autodesk Inc., BORIS FX, INC, Epic Games, Inc., HumanEyes Technologies, Mo-Sys Engineering, NVIDIA Corporation, Panocam3d, Pixar (The Walt Disney Company), Side Effects Software Inc (SideFX), Technicolor, and Vicon Motion Systems Ltd.
