What are the Largest Areas of Growth for the Drone Industry?

David Benowitz is the Head of Research for DroneAnalyst, which released a report digging into how the industry performed during COVID-19 and how much hardware was sold in 2020 versus 2019.

“While a lot of people, of course, saw a lot of interest in delivery during COVID-19 — delivering medical devices, etc. — and we definitely saw a lot of growth, we’re really interested to see that across the whole industry.

We’re looking at the markets that currently exist. We’ve seen tremendous growth across the whole industry, with hardware growing from about $2.4 billion USD in 2019 to a much larger $3.5 billion of hardware being sold in 2020.

And, when we start looking at these segments that have grown, the only segment that was hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic was creative professionals, because the film industry pretty much stopped production and, therefore, stopped purchasing drones, as well.

But we saw huge, huge, tremendous growth in consumer, which grew by more than 30%. Enterprise imaging was even higher than that when talking about public safety and industrial applications.

The No. 1 largest growing sector during COVID-19 was agriculture spraying. And, of course, we’ve seen these drones being used for spraying disinfectant for COVID-19, as well. But we’re also seeing the core business of agriculture spraying drones just really take off in Asia and elsewhere where regulations are much more relaxed and where the products are finally meeting customers’ demands.”

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

spiral growth
Spiral Growth: The Career Strategy That Builds Real Leaders
February 11, 2026

Leadership pipelines are under pressure. Companies are moving faster, roles are becoming more cross-functional, and high-potential talent is expected to deliver beyond narrow job descriptions earlier in their careers. At the same time, the World Economic Forum estimates that 39% of workers’ core skills will need to evolve by 2030 to keep pace with…

Read More
ethical AI
In the Race to Build Smarter AI, Technology Leaders Shouldn’t Forget That Innovation Needs Oversight
February 11, 2026

When a résumé is filtered out, a loan is denied, or a piece of content never reaches its audience, artificial intelligence may be the unseen hand behind the outcome. As these systems spread across the tools and institutions that shape daily life, the assumptions and priorities of their designers are carried forward into decisions…

Read More
Resource Officers
Beyond Enforcement: The Evolving Role of School Resource Officers
February 10, 2026

School Safety Today podcast, presented by Raptor Technologies. In this episode of School Safety Today, host Dr. Amy Grosso sits down with Dr. Penny Schultz, Assistant Director of School Safety and Security at Chesapeake Public Schools, to unpack the often-misunderstood role of School Resource Officers (SROs). The conversation highlights how effective SROs function not…

Read More
transportation management
Transportation Management Systems Don’t Compete With Carriers, Brokers, or Shippers — They Align Them
February 10, 2026

Transportation management systems are undergoing a quiet but consequential shift. Once viewed primarily as tools for tracking loads and storing paperwork, modern TMS platforms are increasingly expected to function as the operational backbone of logistics organizations. As freight volumes continue to fluctuate, margins remain tight, and supply chains rely on a growing mix of…

Read More