Ireland’s entertainment and media market set for steady growth

Irish E&M Growth is shifting from scale to engagement

Ireland’s entertainment and media (E&M) industry is forecast to continue growing through 2030, led by service connectivity, internet advertising, and video-on-demand (VOD). But the story is bigger than growth alone. As digital markets mature and consumer choice expands, success will increasingly depend on how well organisations build deeper customer relationships, create more relevant experiences, and combine digital innovation with the human connections consumers continue to value.

Ireland’s E&M industry is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.14% to 2030, reaching €8.2bn from €7bn in 2025. This represents steady growth in a market shaped by economic uncertainty, slower consumer spending growth, and increasing competition across both domestic and international providers.

Irish growth is being driven primarily by three areas: service connectivity, internet advertising, and VOD. Together, these point to a market that’s increasingly digital, data-led, and shaped by changing consumer behaviours. Connectivity remains the largest revenue contributor, while internet advertising is forecast to grow ahead of the global benchmark. VOD continues to expand, although the data suggests that the market is entering a more mature phase.

For Irish businesses, growth is becoming less about simply reaching more consumers and more about creating stronger, more valuable relationships with them. As customers move across platforms, devices, and formats, organisations need to think more carefully about how they engage, retain, and create value for audiences over time.

This is particularly important in an E&M market where digital adoption continues to rise, but demand for shared and in-person experiences remains resilient. The businesses best positioned for growth will be those that combine digital convenience, relevant content, trusted data, and memorable customer experiences.

Service connectivity, which includes fixed and mobile internet, accounts for 39% of Irish E&M revenues, making it the largest contributor to the market. Ireland’s service connectivity market reached €2.7bn in 2025, increasing 0.4% year-on-year, and is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 2.2% through to 2030. This is slightly below the global CAGR of 2.3%, pointing to continued but modest expansion over the forecast period.

The Irish market remained mobile-led in 2025, with mobile service revenue accounting for €1.6bn and fixed services generating €1.1bn. This reflects the central role of mobile access in how consumers connect with content, services, and experiences. Fixed broadband also continues to grow, supported by fibre rollout activity and the National Broadband Plan.

A major change is also underway in mobile subscriptions. 5G subscriptions are expected to rise from six million in 2025 to 11 million in 2030, while 4G subscriptions are forecast to fall from five million to one million over the same period. This marks a decisive shift in how consumers access digital services and creates opportunities for richer, faster, and more personalised experiences.

For businesses, connectivity isn’t just an infrastructure story. It’s an engagement story. Faster, more reliable access changes customer expectations and raises the bar for digital experiences. Organisations should consider how improved connectivity can support better content delivery, seamless customer journeys, and new ways to engage audiences in real time.

Internet advertising is one of the strongest growth areas in Ireland’s E&M market. Revenue reached €1.3bn in 2025, increasing 13.1% year-on-year, and is forecast to reach approximately €1.9bn by 2030. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.6% between 2025 and 2030, slightly ahead of the global CAGR of 7.2%.

This growth is being supported by digital advancement, changing consumer behaviour, and the influence of major digital streaming platforms. AI-powered personalisation is also enabling more targeted advertising, helping organisations reach customers with more relevant content and offers.

Paid search remains the largest internet advertising segment, generating €761m in 2025, while other display internet advertising generated €377m. By 2030, paid search is forecast to reach €1bn. Connected TV in-stream advertising is expected to record particularly strong growth, rising at a CAGR of 16.2% to €46.44m by 2030, reflecting increased online TV advertising across streaming platforms.

The opportunity for Irish businesses is to move beyond advertising as a channel and treat it as part of the wider customer experience. Better data, stronger audience insight, and more personalised engagement can help businesses improve relevance, build trust, and strengthen customer relationships. In a more competitive market, the ability to understand and respond to customer needs will increasingly determine advertising effectiveness.

Ireland’s VOD market generated €334m in 2025, increasing 17.2% year-on-year. The market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% between 2025 and 2030, reaching €428m by 2030. While this remains a positive growth outlook, it’s below the global VOD CAGR of 6.1%, suggesting Ireland’s market is continuing to expand but beginning to mature.

Subscription VOD (SVOD) was the largest revenue stream in 2025, generating €280m, followed by advertising VOD (AVOD) at €30m and transactional VOD (TVOD), which includes one- off purchases or rentals of films or series from digital platforms, at €25m. VOD subscription engagement remained strong, with 2.4m subscriptions recorded in 2025. By 2030, growth is expected to be led primarily by SVOD, which is forecast to reach €358m, while AVOD is projected to generate €46m.

The subscription data reveals an important shift. VOD subscriptions are forecast to increase from 2.409 million in 2025 to 2.724 million in 2030, representing a CAGR of 2.5%. Annual revenue per subscription is also forecast to rise, indicating that future growth will depend on both modest subscriber growth and stronger monetisation of the existing customer base.

For businesses, this points to a broader lesson: as digital markets mature, customer acquisition alone is not enough. Growth will increasingly come from retention, engagement, personalisation, and value creation. Organisations that understand what customers value, and adapt their offerings accordingly, will be better placed to sustain growth.

While digital adoption is reshaping Ireland’s E&M market, the data also shows that human connection remains a powerful driver of value. Ireland’s in-person experiences category, combining box office, live music ticket sales, and trade shows, generated €310m in 2025 and is forecast to reach €362m by 2030. This represents a CAGR of 3.2%, broadly in line with the overall Irish E&M market.

Despite a decline of 1.1% in 2025, the medium-term outlook for in-person experiences is positive. Box office and trade shows are forecast to grow at 4.4% and 4.3% respectively, while live music ticket sales are forecast to expand more moderately at 1.8%. This indicates resilient demand for physical experiences, with cinema recovery and trade show activity providing much of the category’s growth momentum.

This creates an important strategic tension for businesses. Consumers increasingly expect digital convenience, but they still value experiences that feel personal, memorable, and shared. The opportunity is not to choose between digital and physical channels, but to connect them more effectively.

For Irish organisations, this may mean using digital platforms to enhance live experiences, using data to understand audience preferences, or creating hybrid customer journeys that begin online and deepen through real-world engagement. The businesses that succeed will be those that combine technology with relevance, convenience with connection, and innovation with trust.