US Edition: Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2024-2028

The US artificial intelligence (AI) market is a global center for innovation and investment, reflecting the country’s position at the forefront of the technology’s development internationally. Our 2024 survey of CEOs shows that nearly half of US CEOs see GenAI boosting profits this year, with 61% expecting it to improve the quality of their products and services. Thus far, much of the discussion surrounding AI in E&M has focused on reducing and controlling costs—rather than driving new revenue streams. But really, the open question remains precisely how GenAI will translate into higher revenues and help companies accelerate their pursuit of revenue pools.

As with other sectors of the tech and telecoms industry, most notably the streaming revolution, the US is the epicenter and world’s largest market for Internet access by some distance. Both the size of the US market and the high average revenue per user (ARPU) rates mean that by the end of the forecast period it will be worth about US$52.7bn more annually than the combined value of the world’s second-, third- and fourth-biggest markets in China, Japan and India. The drive in Internet access revenue is being fueled by consumer demand for more-sophisticated and more-powerful services, with AI the most-prominent emerging technology.

It’s increasingly challenging to drive revenue growth by selling E&M products directly to users. Thus, real opportunity lies in what companies are willing to pay to reach consumers, whether they are on phones, playing games, on the road, or on e-commerce sites. Growth in the US Internet advertising market rose 7.3% year-on-year in 2023 to reach a value of US$225.0bn and will continue to expand at a 9.7% CAGR to reach US$357.5bn by 2028. The connected TV video advertising segment has been the fastest-growing part of the US Internet advertising market in recent years, as its share continues to take spend from more mature formats, such as traditional linear TV.