- Corona crisis causes decrease in Internet industry turnover of 1.2% in 2020
- Catalytic effects in the areas of expanding digital infrastructures and implementing digital business models lead to sustainable industry growth
- The Internet industry will see average annual growth of 9.5% until 2025 and will thus gain in importance for the economy as a whole (from 4.2% to 7%)
The lock down measures implemented in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic are leading to negative consequences for all economic sectors. This will also slow the previous growth of the Internet industry in Germany. However, these negative effects are expected to be fully compensated for by the end of 2022. The prerequisite for this, however, is that the economy must be ramped up again as far as possible in 2020.
This is the conclusion reached by eco – Association of the Internet Industry and the management consultancy Arthur D. Little in preliminary extracts of the study “The Internet Industry 2020 – 2025”, which presents current industry trends and growth forecasts every five years.
While according to IFO projections, the current corona crisis will lead to an economic slump of approx. 5%, the Internet industry – from digital infrastructures to the application level of user industries – will also experience a real reduction of growth of 1.2% compared to the previous year. But overall, the Internet industry will grow by an average of up to 9.5% each year until 2025, across all industry segments. This calculation includes the added value of the Internet industry from user industries such as Industrial IoT, automotive, or smart industries, and many others.
This is a positive perspective and demonstrates the impressive importance of the industry as a whole. eco Chair Oliver Süme states “We are currently experiencing how the corona crisis is accelerating digitalization in many areas of the Internet industry, despite partial slumps in individual industry segments.” This will have a positive medium-term effect on many segments of the Internet industry. According to Süme, catalytic effects are expected especially in the expansion of digital infrastructures and the implementation of digital business models.
In fact, the study has found opposing effects for most segments, with both positive and negative impacts on business development. Overall, however, patterns emerge resulting in a quick recovery from the short-term negative “shock” for many areas – only a few areas of the Internet industry will be negatively affected by the crisis in the long-term.
Offers in the areas of education, health, and publishing, as well as public cloud services will benefit particularly in the long-term.
“Nevertheless, especially now in Germany, providers of digital technologies and services from the SME environment must receive special attention from politicians, because it is clear that the major players in the Internet industry can currently benefit particularly from crisis demand, thanks to the scalability of their business models. Therefore, it is important for medium-sized companies to confidently play to their strengths and rely on proximity and reliability. For the user industries, the following is now true: The times of technology skepticism are over. Digitalization is vital to the survival of every company and business model – this realization must now become the guideline for all corporate actions in all industries,” Süme continues.
Since 2008, the eco Association and Arthur D. Little have been regularly investigating the development of the Internet industry in Germany. The previous study from 2015 predicted the scale of growth in the Internet industry in 2019 with an accuracy of 95.5%.
The preliminary results of the “Internet Industry 2020 – 2025” study can be downloaded for free here:
https://www.eco.de/studie-internetwirtschaft-20-25-corona-preprint/
