The metaverse spending in the advertising space is on track to total between $144 billion and $206 billion by 2030, new report from McKinsey & Co. predicts. This is emerging tech marketers and the business world must track.
SmartBrief, earlier this week, explored how marketers are investing in emerging tech and the challenges and opportunities that brings. The consensus from the research we looked at seemed to suggest that although emerging tech is being embraced, more established strategies such as social media still prevail.
The McKinesy report argues that one major example of emerging tech — the metaverse — can no longer be ignored.
Metaverse spending has doubled from last year to reach more than $120 billion in 2022 and McKinsey estimates global investment could hit around $5 trillion by 2030. About $2 to $2.6 trillion of that total investment will come from e-commerce and advertising will account for $144 billion to $206 billion.
Consumers are expected to spend 6 hours each day in the metaverse by 2030, the report states.
The research offers interesting insights for marketers on how both consumers and businesses feel about the opportunities presented by the metaverse.
What consumers think
Some 59% of consumers are excited about being able to perform everyday activities in the metaverse, and the ones they’re most looking forward to are socializing, entertainment, gaming, travel and shopping.
“People are signaling that connection is probably their number one interest,” Lareina Yee, senior partner at McKinsey, told The Wall Street Journal.
Around 79% of consumers who are active in the metaverse have bought something there with the most popular items being in-game purchases, virtual makeup, real-world products and nonfungible tokens.
How businesses feel
Some 95% of senior executives say the metaverse, within 5 to 10 years, will have a positive effect on their industry.
Among the top capabilities cited by executives for delivering a metaverse strategy are content creation, marketing and brand strategy.
The most important metaverse technologies for businesses in the future are cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence and virtual and augmented reality, executives said.
The consumer, retail and apparel, fashion and luxury business category has the current highest adoption of the metaverse for marketing and campaigns at 95%, with media and communications following in second at 82%.
What does the metaverse spending mean for marketers?
The report shows that marketing is one of the main business uses already for the metaverse, and consumers seem to be ready for brands to meet them there to facilitate shopping, entertainment and other experiences.
“In the end, with its potential to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030, the metaverse is simply too big to be ignored,” the report states, “which is why businesses, policymakers, consumers, and citizens are well advised to explore and understand as much as they can about this phenomenon.”
Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester Research Inc., took a slightly less bullish view when talking to The Wall Street Journal.
“The linchpin in this entire metaverse calculus has to be about convincing everyday people how the metaverse will complement their daily lives. And until that happens, the user base of immersive media will continue to be niche,” Proulx said.
But, however optimistic or cynical marketers feel about metaverse opportunities, one thing will always remain true:
“Whether we’re talking about traditional brick-and-mortar, e-comm or the metaverse, brands that focus on a personalized, tailored experience are the ones that will end up rising to the top,” Raj De Datta, CEO at Bloomreach, said in a recent SmartBrief article.
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