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

StudentSafe
Understanding Raptor StudentSafe
April 28, 2026

In this episode of School Safety Today, host Dr. Amy Grosso speaks with Chris Noell, Chief Product Officer at Raptor Technologies, and Will Durgin, Director of Student Well-Being, about the vision behind StudentSafe and how it helps schools move from reactive responses to proactive student support. Together, they emphasize that safer schools depend on giving staff…

Read More
school safety
Going Slow to Go Fast in School Safety Leadership
April 28, 2026

In this episode of the Principles of Change podcast, presented by Raptor Technologies, host Dr. Amy Grosso talks with Tim Dykes, Assistant Principal for Culture and Climate at York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. The conversation highlights how strong relationships, student voice, and steady long-term leadership can help schools build environments where people feel…

Read More
career
Closing the Education-to-Employment Gap: The Rise of the Career Center as Campus Infrastructure
April 28, 2026

Higher education is under mounting pressure to prove its value. As student debt, shifting demographics, and employer expectations reshape the landscape, institutions are being forced to rethink how they prepare students for life after graduation. At the same time, new data shows a sharp rise in internship-to-full-time hiring, with recent cohorts converting at their…

Read More
leadership
Called to Lead: Joel Allison on Faith, Risk, and the Future of Healthcare Leadership
April 27, 2026

Healthcare leadership is being redefined in real time. With the rise of AI, mounting financial pressures, and workforce burnout, executives today are operating in an environment of continuous disruption and uncertainty. In fact, industry leaders now rank workforce shortages and digital transformation among their top concerns—forcing a new kind of leadership that blends decisiveness…

Read More