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Please provide the TAMs (total addressable market) for photo editing and image manipulation software.
PAid report
Technavio published a paid report this year detailing the global photo editing software market for 2017-2021. If you're interested in purchasing the report, you can find the market size in section 4.
In the summary of the report, we were able to glean that the global photo editing software market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.35% from 2017-2021. The market is largely driven by use in professional photography, particularly post-production efforts. The demand for this type of software is high among these professionals; however, an increased number of free offerings is a major challenge to the growth of the overall market.
Further, the increased use of photo content on social media platforms contributes to the increased demand for photo editing software, with online software becoming increasingly more popular. Top trends driving the global photo editing software market (per Technavio research analysts) are:
Triangulation
The prevalence of smartphones globally has created an environment in which photographic capabilities are readily available to anyone with access to these devices. As a result, photos are being taken and edited by casual users, enthusiasts (also referred to as "prosumers)" and professionals alike. Accurately triangulating the Total Addresseable Market (TAM) for photo editing and image manipulation software - two terms that are used interchangeably, according to my research - is difficult as there is no direct measure of the number of photo takers that will edit their photos. The high quality of today's smartphone cameras has resulted in a lesser need for casual editing. However, we've outlined several key statistics that can provide a snapshot of the potential market for you:
PHOTOGRAPHERS
In the U.S. alone, there are 147,300 photographers, 266,300 graphic designers, and 14,600 desktop publishers, for a total of 428,200 professionals that are likely to use photo editing software as part of their work. This is a highly conservative number of professional use of photo editing software, as numerous other professionals - art directors, realtors, museum curators, etc. - would require high quality photos and would potentially use this product.
On the casual or prosumer side, we can get a sense of photo takers using social media statistics. For example, active monthly Instagram users worldwide as of 2017 were estimated at 800 million and growing. Instagram is one of the most popular social platforms for sharing images and presents a great potential for photo editing. In addition, worldwide smartphone users are currently estimated at over 4 billion individuals, meaning that there are potentially over 4 billion photo takers who might use photo editing tools.
COMPETITORS
Gimp, Picasa, Photoscape, and Inkscape are professional photo editing tools that are available free of charge, challenging the need for purchase photo editing software. Fotor is a cloud-based photo editing software that also offers a free option via its desktop application, and On1 Perfect Effects offers a free version (Perfect Effect 9). DxO Optics Pro 10 and Lightroom are popular, high quality applications used for professional quality editing that are available for purchase.
While most of these companies are private and don't publicize their revenue, one photo editing startup, PicMonkey, has entered the competitive photo editing market, earning millions in revenue. PicMonkey has "millions of users a month, five billion photos edited, and several hundred thousand paying users."
PC MAGAZINE RANKINGS
PC Magazine covers the need for photo editing software to organize and edit photos, as well as enhance them to look their best. Acknowledging that camera technology - particularly in smartphones - is vastly improving, the report identifies highly rated products in this market. Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, Adobe Photoshop Elements, DxO OpticsPro, and CyberLink Photo Director rank highest. With price points ranging from $99.99-$129.99 for purchase or $9.99 per month for online access, each option is affordable and accessible for casual through professional users.
CONCLUSION
Casual, prosumer, and professional photographers are all potential consumers of photo editing and image manipulation software. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.35% from 2017-2021, and is primarily driven by post-production, professional photography.