New Delhi, Oct 9 (IANS): The global metaverse market is expected to reach $996 billion in 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39.8 per cent.

The metaverse market size reached a value of $22.79 billion in 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Companies across the globe, including those in non-tech sectors, are now increasingly investing in the technology for better engagement with customers, brand awareness expansion, and identification of new revenue streams.

"As of 2021, the media and entertainment market captured a sizable revenue share of the metaverse market. The entertainment experience we have seen through the metaverse has been through music and concerts," said Deepak Agarwal, Project Manager at GlobalData.

"In the non-blockchain world, Travis Scott in Fortnite had put on an enormous concert which showed $20 billion, including merchandise, versus the 1.7 billion from the regular show," Agrawal added.

Various players in the technology sector, including those manufacturing semiconductors, components, and application software, are also leveraging metaverse.

Asia-Pacific and North America together held 50 per cent metaverse market share in 2021.

"The strong presence of big technology giants in the advanced economies of North America and the emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region are fuelling the metaverse market growth," said the report.

Companies in these regions are focusing on Blockchain, machine learning, AR and VR, adtech, payment platforms, enterprise applications, gaming, data governance and others.

"The metaverse is still largely conceptual but could transform how people work, shop, communicate, and consume content. Although it is in the early stages of development, it has the potential to be the next mega-theme in digital media," said Agarwal.

Furthermore, the large-scale adoption of next-gen technologies. including AR and VR will accentuate the adoption of metaverse by most of the stakeholders involved, the report mentioned.