Commercial satellite images to get more worldwide interest through to 2019

The market for commercial satellite imagery is growing, driven by increasing demand from the defense sector, predominantly by countries with large imagery intelligence (IMINT) requirements. Defense and intelligence departments all over the world are seeking ways to support their security initiatives using satellite imagery due to rising terrorism concerns, says Transparency Market Research.

The company has released "Commercial Satellite Imaging Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2013 - 2019," a report which forecasts that the market for commercial satellite imaging globally will reach US$5,018.6 million by 2019. Globally, this market was valued at US$2,054.5 million in 2012, and is forecast to grow at 13.9% CAGR from 2013 to 2019.
 
While governments purchase commercial satellite imagery in order to support national security reconnaissance activities, climate change research, weather prediction, and land management activities, market growth is also being driven by increased demand for applications such as oil and gas (energy) sector management and natural resource management, with insurance, real estate and city planning and fleet management emerging as potential commercial applications.

Geographically, North America is expected to remain largest market for commercial satellite imagery followed by Europe. Together, these two territories had revenue share of 70.7% in 2012. 

Digital Globe, GeoEye which now part of Digital Globe, and Astrium Geo are currently dominating the market space. New participants are expected to face stiff competition from existing players, and will have to focus on service differentiation and quality to sustain growth in the long run.  

More information on the report is available here.