LOS ANGELES: The streaming wars are set to unleash a river of cash.

With major media companies entering the market, American consumer spending on subscription-video services will increase 29% in 2020, hitting an estimated US$24.1bil , according to the Consumer Technology Association's sales and forecast study for the year.

The anticipated jump comes as streaming video providers like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video have been joined by a squadron of new direct-to-consumer arrivals. Last November saw the debuts of Disney+ and Apple TV+, while on deck for spring 2020 are WarnerMedia's HBO Max, NBCUniversal's Peacock and Quibi, the mobile-video startup led Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman.

Streaming music also will be a high-growth segment in 2020, the CTA study predicts: On-demand music services including Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora will total US$9bil in revenue, up 15% from 2019, with room to grow as more and more consumers adopt smart speakers and wireless earbuds. Video game software and services revenue will climb 5%, to US$38.3bil this year, per CTA.

Overall, the CTA projects the US consumer tech industry will hit a record US$422bil in retail revenues in 2020, up 3.9% year over year. The trade group released the report to kick off CES 2020, its annual consumer-electronics trade show in Las Vegas.

On the hardware side, the CTA cited the popularity of wireless earbuds, smart home devices and smart speakers as keeping sales steady amid the booming growth in streaming services. The trade group also sees the broader adoption of 5G connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI) as foundational technologies that will spur sales of consumer-electronics products.

Here's a breakdown of the CTA study's projections by hardware category:

The CTA publishes its US Consumer Technology Sales and Forecasts twice a year, in January and July, reporting factory sales to dealers. The trade group noted in announcing the study, "Any escalation in the trade dispute with China and expansion of tariffs would likely present significant headwinds to CTA's forecast."

 - Reuters