Worldwide market revenue will reach $19.9 billion in 2019, up from $18.2 billion in 2018, according to the IHS Markit Video Surveillance Intelligence Service. The strong performance this year follows 9.3 percent growth in 2017 and an 8.7 percent expansion in 2018. This three-year growth spurt comes after weaker growth of 3.9 percent in 2016 and 1.9 percent 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. “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.”

In addition to various types of cameras, the professional video surveillance equipment market includes a range of other products, such as recorders, analytics appliances and video management software.

China’s surveillance market booms

China is driving the expansion of the global professional video surveillance equipment market. In 2018, the country accounted for nearly half of the global business, with 45 percent of worldwide revenue. China’s market expanded by an impressive 13.5 percent last year. Excluding China, the global market grew by just 5 percent.

“A major factor propelling China’s higher growth is the government’s Xue Liang programme, which promotes investment in both city surveillance projects and the extension of city surveillance systems into surrounding rural areas,” Cropley said. “The Xue Liang programme 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.”

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 65 percent of global revenue in 2018, compared to 52 percent 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. A total of 70 percent of all security cameras shipped in 2018 were network cameras.

At the same time, global shipments of HD CCTV cameras, also known as analogue HD cameras, fell in 2018.