Global DRM Market to Reach US$2.5 Billion by 2017

SAN JOSE, California — Global Industry Analysts, Inc. (GIA) announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Digital Rights Management (DRM) market. The global market for Digital Rights Management (DRM) is projected to reach US$2.5 billion by the year 2017, primarily driven by growing concerns among enterprises, government agencies and consumers over safety and security of valuable digital content, and the need to curb software piracy, data thefts, and unauthorized use of protected content. Emerging application areas for the technology and robust demand from Asia-Pacific also augur well for the market.

Corporate and enterprises continue to be plagued by issues surrounding safety and security of content. With organizations preferring to digitize their sensitive and high value content to enable easy access and storage, fears over possible data leakages, theft, piracy and unauthorized use of digital information remain imminent. Rapid proliferation of the Internet made it all the more easier for unauthorized people to gain access to digital information and illegally circulate the same. This situation calls for immediate attention as piracy and data losses not only cause huge revenue losses for the company but also tarnish the image of the company for ever. Against this backdrop, the importance of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software has been brought to the fore, given its role in ensuring protection of data against piracy, within and beyond their corporate networks. Not only software and corporate information, media and entertainment industry too require efficient DRM solutions to protect their media and movie files against illegal distribution and sharing over the Internet and other illegal supply channels. Given the increasing levels of caution among content developers over safety of their high value content, the future definitely holds good for DRM applications.

Despite the popular perception that the dynamic environment of risk that companies and media houses operate in, and the ever-present data security threats, which interestingly tend to escalate during periods of economic downturn, make data security technologies recession proof, the global Digital Rights Management (DRM) market ironically in the year 2009 depicted a marked weakening in the midst of a steady deterioration in business climate. The length, breath and duration of the economic slowdown has been unprecedented and the contraction in business activity widespread across diverse industries. The economic storm, in other words, wiped out numerous companies in software and enterprise segment and even pushed many large media houses on the verge of bankruptcy during the period. With enterprise focus shifting towards survival, demand for content protection solutions, during this period, stood significantly weakened. Numerous corporate failures in emerging application markets such as banking and financial services, BPOs, and TV Home Entertainment, therefore squeezed opportunities in the DRM market.

Despite the 15.9% erosion in growth witnessed during the period 2007-2009, the DRM market made a smart recovery in the year 2010. This is largely because the underlying economics of content protection goes beyond the temporary weakness in the market’s climate. Companies, especially software firms and large media houses, cannot afford to cut corners on DRM for long, given the disproportionately higher costs associated with data losses, piracy and unauthorized circulation of original content. These costs tend to far outweigh any gains stemming from cutting DRM expenditures as a measure to save money. Additionally, a large percentage of the DRM market is built upon legally binding requirements. Observing the rules and regulations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), vertical sections of business like manufacturing, financial services, energy and health care are paying more attention to updating DRM technology. Future growth in the market will be primarily driven by emerging opportunities from niche segments such as educational services, healthcare, e-Books and financial sector will also drive future gains in the market over the next few years. Application of DRM for Electronic Medical Records, in particular will generate tremendous prospects for the market in healthcare market.

As stated by the new market research report on Digital Rights Management (DRM), the United States continues to remain the largest regional market for DRM. Asia-Pacific represents the fastest growing regional market for DRM waxing at a CAGR of about 19% over the analysis period. Growth in the Asia-Pacific DRM market will be especially driven by continued demand for payTV services, which continues to boost demand for conditional access and pay-TV DRM in the region, particularly in emerging markets of China and India. Media & Entertainment DRM is the fastest growing market segment by end-use type, with revenue from the segment growing at a CAGR of about 15.3% over the analysis period.

Major players in the marketplace include Adobe Systems Incorporated, Apple Inc., CoreMedia AG, Digimarc Corporation, EMC Corporation, International Business Machines Corporation, IPR Systems Pty Ltd., Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., LockLizard Limited, Rovi Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, RealNetworks, Inc., AuthenTec, Teletrax, VeriSign Inc., YANGAROO Inc., among others.

The research report titled “Digital Rights Management (DRM): A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., provides a comprehensive review of trends, issues, strategic industry activities, and profiles of major companies worldwide. The report provides market estimates and projections (US$ Million) for market segments – Software DRM, Enterprise DRM, and Media & Entertainment DRM across geographic markets such as the US, Canada, Japan, Europe Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America.