Video processing market hits $14.9B as AI and 5G accelerate APAC

The shift toward AI-integrated processing enables broadcasters to automate content optimization and audience analytics at a scale previously impossible with manual workflows. In the competitive streaming landscape, these efficiencies are no longer optional but essential for managing the massive data volumes required by UHD content and 5G-ready mobile delivery. This growth reinforces the dominance of hyperscalers who provide integrated cloud video services, potentially squeezing specialized hardware vendors unless they pivot to edge computing or proprietary AI accelerators. Watch the pace of 5G rollout in India and Indonesia as a primary indicator for infrastructure spending in the next 24 months.

The push toward high-efficiency processing is already manifesting in product launches among the market leaders named in the report. Per AWS and CNBC in February 2026, Amazon Web Services launched 'AWS Elemental Inference,' a managed service that uses agentic AI to automatically convert horizontal live broadcasts into mobile-first vertical formats in under 10 seconds. This addresses the 88% of Gen Z viewers who consume streaming content via smartphones, a key demographic for the APAC growth cited by MarketGenics. This automation is designed to reduce the need for manual post-production, which has historically been a significant cost bottleneck for live sports and event coverage.

Simultaneously, the industry is moving toward specialized silicon to handle these workloads more efficiently than general-purpose CPUs. Per Intel, in early 2026, the Xeon 6 SoC with built-in Media Transcode Accelerators delivered up to 14x performance-per-watt gains for live streaming tasks compared to previous generations. This hardware-level acceleration is crucial as organizations face mounting economic pressure; according to the Bitmovin Video Developer Report 2025/26, cost control has become the top priority for 38% of video teams globally.

AI adoption is also moving deeper into the encoding stack rather than remaining an adjacent metadata tool. Per Netint research from April 2026, content-aware ladder generation is projected to grow by 77% as providers seek to lower CDN costs. Furthermore, the adoption of the AV1 codec is expected to reach 57% combined market reach by the end of 2026, driven by its 231% planned growth rate as operators prioritize bandwidth efficiency. These technical shifts collectively support the market’s move toward the $14.9 billion valuation by providing the necessary margin improvements for high-volume streaming operators.