Action Camera Market

The media & entertainment, travel, and tourism industry have been witnessing a huge growth due to the introduction of portable digital cameras for taking pictures and storing them digitally. Earlier, purchasing a digital camera required a lot of investment and maintenance. However, the increased disposable income and the influence of social media for sharing media content has influenced the growth of digital camera and video cameras market positively. In recent years, the trend of sharing media content has raged over the Internet, especially the video content over platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. A lot of personalized videos were uploaded using DSLRs, camcorders, and action cameras which included activities such as skydiving, surfing, cycling, mountain climbing, and other adventure sports. These videos grew a lot of attention across the globe and consumers were more attracted towards action cameras for their affordability, compactness, portability, and the ability to record high-resolution videos compared to its traditional counterpart.

An action camera a specialized device to capture high-quality videos at high speed or action. These cameras are equipped with high level of image stabilization and higher frame rates for capturing smoother videos even at high speed, mostly used in adventure activities. GoPro, Inc. was among the first companies to grab this emerging market segment, offering box-styled action cameras that can be mounted either on the body or any other accessory. These factors act as a growth driver for the action camera industry. The action camera market was valued at USD 3,721.5 million in 2016 and is expected to grow with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.21% during the forecast period, 2018–2023. Action cameras are extensively used for leisure and sports activities, vlogging, and professional use. There is a high demand for 4K and 8K resolution action cameras in films production, law enforcement and surveillance, military operations, and medical applications. These use cases pose various opportunities for the growth of action camera vendors.

Although, the action camera market was almost half acquired by GoPro owing to the company’s high-quality and versatile products, there are a lot of new entrants like SJCam, Polaroid, Noise, Xiaomi, and more established players like Sony, Panasonic, Garmin, Nikon and others that are presenting improved offerings in the action camera market. These companies have witnessed Asia-Pacific as the emerging market for action-cameras as most of the Japanese and Chinese companies are launching their offering at competitive prices. The launch of Sony’s action camera series was to compete with GoPro in terms of units shipped. The sales of GoPro had declined in 2017 and 2018 in terms of units shipped, however, it remained a leading player in the action camera market, especially in box-styled action camera in 2017 and 2018.