The growing surveillance market is a key factor fuelling the growth of this market.  However, interoperability is inhibiting the growth of global facial recognition market and identifying differences among like faces or appearances poses a key challenge for the market.

Facial recognition is a biometric technology used for authentication and identification of individuals by comparing the facial features from an image with a stored facial database. It is expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period owing to its increasing usage in both law enforcement and non-law enforcement applications.

Moreover, facial recognition is widely preferred over other biometric technologies, such as voice recognition, skin texture recognition, iris recognition, and fingerprint scanning, due to its non-contact process and easy deployment (using cameras and existing monitoring devices). Currently, this technology is majorly used for security and marketing purpose. For instance, billboards have been designed with integrated software that are used to identify gender, age, and ethnicity to deliver targeted advertising.

Facial recognition is primarily used for security purposes, such as homeland security, criminal investigation, ID management, and physical security. However, in recent years, this technology is also being increasingly used for targeted advertising and marketing purposes, particularly in the retail sector.

According to the facial recognition market report, one driver in the market is increasing instances of identity threats. The increasing dependence of end-users on websites and web applications is giving rise to an increasing number of identity and data theft cases. The growing popularity of online gaming and social network websites is also adding to the rising number of identity theft cases. In addition, the increasing complexity of these attacks is driving end-users to implement secure authentication solutions. Thus, there is increased adoption of biometric security solutions.

Due to growing technological advancements, when compared to the 2D facial recognition technology, 3D facial recognition technology is expected to witness much faster adoption in the near future. The government and law enforcement agencies mainly utilise facial recognition systems for security issues. Additionally, facial recognition systems are being gradually used in the BFSI sector to guarantee security and reduce crimes due to the increase in fraud in this sector. Furthermore, to figure out the age, sex, and facial expressions of the customers facial analytics systems are being used in the retail industry for marketing purposes.

Some of the key players cited in the report as being in the Global Facial Recognition market are NEC Corporation, Cross Match Technologies Inc., Animetrics, Inc., Cognitec Systems, Safran Group (Morpho S.A.), Aware Inc., Ayonix, Inc., 3M Cogent Inc., Facefirst Inc., ZK Software, DAON, Inc., Gemalto, RCG Holdings Ltd., Iris Id Systems Inc. and Avalon Biometrics.