Video surveillance market to reach $36.3 billion by 2018

A recent report from Deutsche Bank projects that the global video surveillance market will expand to $36.3 billion by 2018, up from $21.9 billion last year. The report also showed increased market share by revenue for the top five surveillance suppliers Hikvision, Dahua, Axis Communications, Flir and Infinova, rising from 21 percent in 2013 to 24 percent in 2014. Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology are the only China suppliers in the top 10, but they had the biggest YoY growth in 2014, rising by 60 and 36 percent.

By revenue, Hikvision and Dahua led at $2.7 and $1.1 billion in the said year, respectively. Dali Technology, another China supplier, comes in at 16 with $58 million. Other top 20 suppliers in Asia come from Korea and Taiwan, with US and UK companies also having a strong showing in the market.

Market growth is largely attributed to the expansion of "smart cities" and IoT, upgrades from digital to network video recorders, growing government sales and growth in emerging markets. In mature markets, demand is up most for access control and alarm integration systems, but governments from such countries are also increasingly investments in IoT technology to create smart cities that can better police traffic violators and smart parking lots that allow drivers to find and pay for available spots, among other things. Upgrades in surveillance cameras is also a key factor because IP cameras and NVRs offer better image quality and voice recording, cost savings and remote control of an integrated surveillance system, among other advantages noted in the report.

Video surveillance accounted for 54 percent of the security industry in 2014. With China manufacturers increasingly becoming competitive, video surveillance continues to become a flourishing segment.