Wonder

Research Outline

Prepared for Lisa C. | Delivered September 17, 2020

Contemporary Art Market: Millennial Habits

Goals

To identify the market size of contemporary art in the United States and globally in terms of revenue earned as well as the number of people who are genuinely interested in collecting contemporary art. The research also needs to provide insights relating to millennial habits around art and/or consuming/buying/learning about art online.

Early Findings

Market SizeAccording to the latest data published in the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, the value of global art sales was estimated at US$64.1 billion in 2019.
The United States occupied the largest share of the market accounting for 44% of the global sales followed by the United Kingdom (20%) and China (18%).
The total number of transactions done in the market reached a decade-high of 40.5 million in 2019.
According to the report titled ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on the Gallery Sector’, presented by the ArtBasel and UBS, the global modern and contemporary gallery sector witnessed a decline of 36% in their sales in the first six months of 2020 in comparison with the same period in 2019.
However, the share of online sales in the global modern and contemporary gallery sector rose from 10% of total sales in 2019 to 37% in the first half of 2020.
According to the UBS and Art Basel report, post-war and contemporary art emerged as the largest segment in the fine art auction market in 2019 with a share of 53% of the global fine art auction sales amounting to a market size of US$6.1 billion.
Millennial HabitsThe millennial collectors emerged as the most active buyers in the global art market in 2019 with their average total expenditure amounting to US$3 million over two years.
The average expenditure incurred by a millennial in this market was more than six times the amount spent by the boomers.
The number of active online purchases in excess of US$1 million also witnessed a surge in 2019.
According to the Art Basel/UBS market report, 93% of high-net-worth millennials bought art online in 2019.
According to another study done by LinkedIn, nearly 42% of the population under the age of 35 listen to podcasts. Keeping this trend in mind, leading art-world players across the world, such as Sotheby’s, Lisson Gallery, David Zwirner, and Sean Kelly, started having their own podcasts.