U.S. consumers are expected to spend a combined $26 billion on music and video subscription services this year, according to new estimates from the Consumer Technology Association. That’s up from $20.4 billion in 2018, and nearly twice the amount spent on such services in 2017.

Propelled by the continued success of Apple Music and Spotify, domestic music streaming revenue alone is expected to reach $8.4 billion this year. This represents a 33% growth over 2018 results.

Revenue from paid video streaming services on the other hand is expected to be up 25% year-over-year, to the tune of $17.7 billion for 2019. The Consumer Technology Association credits live TV services with some of the momentum for paid video streaming.

Together, music and video streaming services are projected to generate close to $32.3 billion in revenue in 2020.

However, these numbers are still dwarfed by the money consumers spend on video games. In 2019, video games are expected to generate close to $39 billion in revenue in the U.S., according to the Consumer Technology Association. By 2020, games are projected to bring in nearly $42 billion.

Altogether, U.S. consumers are expected to spend $401 billion on consumer electronics and services this year, which is 2.2% more than last year.

But not every segment of the market is performing equally: While spending on software and services is expected to grow 14% year-over-year, hardware spending is expected to decline by about 0.3% — yet another reason why companies like Apple increasingly focus on services. Source: Variety