Concert streaming market to reach $10.2 billion as Castr pitches ROI

Castr’s pivot toward comprehensive concert infrastructure highlights the shift of livestreaming from a pandemic-era makeshift to a permanent B2B revenue staple. By lowering the barrier for professional-grade audio and multi-angle production, Castr competes directly with premium OTT vendors like Vimeo and specialized video-commerce hubs. For the industry, this signals that the 'hybrid concert' model—combining physical attendance with digital access—is becoming the baseline expectation for artist management and venue operators. Watch for a rise in tiered digital access, where VIP 'virtual soundchecks' are bundled at higher price points via integrated credential gating.

The concert livestreaming sector is entering a period of rapid professionalization following a 2025 where global recorded music revenues reached new highs. Per IFPI reporting from early 2026, paid music subscriptions grew roughly 9% in the preceding twelve months, establishing a stable baseline of digital users primed for upsells like virtual events. Market analysis from Dataintelo in March 2026 confirms that the platform component of this market now commands over 61% of total revenue, as organizers prioritize centralized tools for ticketing, analytics, and content protection over fragmented legacy setups.

Competitive pressure is mounting from both generalist and niche providers. According to G2 reviews from June 2026, Castr faces significant competition from Vimeo OTT and Uscreen, which have expanded their fan-engagement and marketing automation features. Meanwhile, recent trends in North America show that hybrid ticket bundles—offering both physical and digital access—have boosted total audience reach by approximately 12% for major tours, according to Intel Market Research in May 2026. This growth is increasingly fueled by infrastructure improvements in 5G and edge computing, which are critical for maintaining the sub-second latency required for interactive features like live chat and digital tipping.

Furthermore, the focus on geographic and domain-level protection aligns with broader industry efforts to curb revenue leakage. Per ResearchAndMarkets data from August 2025, unauthorized streaming remains a primary headwind for live entertainment monetization. By embedding these security layers directly into the transport protocol level rather than just the player page, vendors like Castr are addressing a critical vulnerability where raw stream URLs are scraped and redistributed on third-party aggregator sites.