Irish media and entertainment growth to lag global rise

Industry will grow to €7.5bn led by internet services and digital advertising rowth 

Casual gaming on personal devices will overtake traditional gaming on PCs and games consoles in Ireland by 2029.

The entertainment and media industry in Ireland is expected to rise to €7.5bn in value by 2029, but growth will lag behind the global industry.

PwC’s latest Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report said the entertainment and media (E&M) industry is set to grow at an annual rate of 3.3%, up from €6.4bn in 2024, primarily fuelled by increasing connectivity, continued growth in internet advertising and video on demand. 

The bulk of the sector is made up of internet services, accounting for 42% of total revenues, at €2.6bn last year.

This segment is expected to grow to €3.1bn by 2029, with fixed broadband subscriptions rising to 2.4 million and revenues from mobile services rising to €1.7bn.

PwC said the growth of internet advertising will accelerate in Ireland at 9.2%, ahead of the global rate, to reach €1.8bn by 2029. The fastest-growing market category is video advertising, which will see an increase of 12.6% to €198m over the forecast period. 

Globally in 2024, advertising revenue and consumer revenue on subscriptions, ticket sales and buying games were more or less at parity. In Ireland in 2024, consumer spend was ahead at €2bn versus €1.7bn for advertising. However, in Ireland by 2029 advertising revenue is forecast to surpass consumer spending as it is expected to grow at a 6.1% to €2.3bn, while consumer spend will slow to a 1.9% CAGR reaching €2.2bn.

Ireland’s video-on-demand market has more than doubled in size since 2020, reaching total revenue of €223m  in 2024. Continued expansion has seen households increasingly “stack” multiple streaming services. The report found that this will ensure there is room for further growth, with total VOD revenue rising at a 6.7% rate to reach €309m in 2029. At this time, subscription video on demand (SVOD) platforms will account for 85% of the total market, with advertising-supported VOD (AVOD) accounting for 11.3%. 

"Advertising is emerging as the leading powerhouse of the Irish entertainment and media industry’s revenues," Amy Ball, Partner, PwC Ireland Entertainment & Media Practice, said. "A transformation expected to continue as AI transforms delivery models, democratises content production, serves highly curated content experiences and reduces barriers to entry."

Naomi Ryan, Senior Manager, PwC Ireland Entertainment & Media Practice, noted that consumers have never had as numerous or diverse choices of entertainment services on offer. "But this competition, paired with economic uncertainty and rising costs, is seeing consumer E&M spend growth slow," she said.

"If entertainment and media businesses are to capture new audiences and generate growth, they must be thinking about the connected ecosystems in which they operate. They must leverage the power of advertising and AI, the combination of which is allowing for far more cost-effective and personalised content creation and engagement models.”

The report also found that Ireland’s total video games revenue is expected to reach €503m by 2029 after increasing at a 4.8%, also below global rates.

Social and casual gaming will rise to €240m in 2029 after increasing at a 5.9%. The report notes that a paradigm shift in Ireland’s video games market will be witnessed in 2029, when social/casual gaming revenue will overtake traditional gaming on PCs and games consoles, which has to date been against the global trend. Although the larger portion of the expected growth is provided by app-based social and casual gaming, in-app games advertising is rapidly becoming a notable presence in the Irish sector, rising to €51m by 2029.

Despite the further rise of digital entertainment, offline entertainment, including cinema and live music, continues to grow at a steady pace.

Irish cinema revenue in 2024 reached €101m and the sector is forecasted to grow 4.7% over the forecast period to €126m, ahead of global growth of 4.1%. The number of cinema admissions in Ireland is expected to grow from 11.32 million in 2024 to 12.76 million in 2029. The Irish film and television industry supports 15,000 full-time jobs and its Gross Value Added (GVA) is worth over €1bn.

Ireland’s total music and radio revenue is forecast to rise at a 2.2% to total €517m in 2029. Ireland’s music revenue accounted for €355m in 2024, with 66% of that made up of live music revenue.