• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer, February 24, 2016

The global market for digital magazine publishing will pass $35 billion by 2020, with a cumulative annual growth rate exceeding 20% over the next five years, according to a new forecast from Technavio. This growth will be powered by growing penetration of the Internet around the world, as well as soaring adoption of smartphones and tablets, Technavio predicts.

In proportional terms, digital magazines are expected to increase from 14% of the total global magazine publishing market to 35% by 2020, with the Americas leading the way in regional adoption, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia.

Led by the U.S., the Americas market will grow at an annual rate of about 20% to surpass $15 billion by 2020, while Europe, the Middle East and Africa will be a close second, exceeding $14 billion by 2020. The Asia Pacific market is still in its infancy, but should reach $6 billion by 2020.

Technavio predicts that adoption of digital magazines will increase rapidly in Asia, due to rising disposable incomes in countries like China and India, fueling growing penetration of Internet and mobile devices. Developed countries like Japan and South Korea already boast large numbers of mobile users with high rates of media consumption.

Separately, last year PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that global circulation revenues for digital magazines — as opposed to advertising revenues — will increase from roughly $3 billion in 2015 to $6 billion by 2018.

FIPP World, a global association of periodical publishers, predicted that total digital magazine advertising revenues will increase from $8.4 billion in 2013 to $13.4 billion this year, making up 27% of total ad revenues. It’s worth noting that these figures include ad revenues from magazine Web sites, as well as digital editions and mobile apps.