Global Scans · Leisure · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT?: Online retailing will be one of the fastest growing channels between 2015 and 2019 as individuals do not have much time for leisure and seek convenience. Entertainment will continue to shift away from traditional broadcast media and print to reality augmented and deeply personalised content. The occupations with the largest new employment growth will be managers, professional and technical jobs, and caring and leisure occupations. Many middle-class professionals will be outsourced to machines within the next few decades leaving workers with more leisure time than they have ever experienced.

• [New] Leading Purpose Type: The to-play segment is projected to be the leading purpose type in 2026, accounting for 38% of revenue share, driven by rising demand for multi-functional cat trees that combine entertainment, exercise, and space-efficient design. Persistence Market Research
• [New] Cricket remains the largest sport but its revenue share is expected to decline to 74% as football, kabaddi, basketball, and multi-sport social formats scale. KEN research
• [New] By 2031, advertising, subscriptions, sponsorship-linked products, affiliate commerce, sports-data services, and overseas revenue are expected to form the majority of the profit pool. KEN research
• [New] Without drastic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, school sports will become unplayable outdoors by the 2060s. The Guardian
• [New] Gaming continues its streak as one of the fastest-growing sectors within entertainment and media, with revenue projected to top $300 billion in 2028. Kavout
• [New] The five-day shopping period will account for 16.5% of total holiday retail ecommerce sales in 2026, marking the second consecutive year of share growth. eMarketer
• [New] The World Economic Forum values the global sports economy at $2.3 trillion and warns that $169 billion in sporting goods revenue, roughly 27%, is at risk if physical inactivity keeps rising. Sporting Goods Intelligence
• [New] Underserved geographies such as Southeast Asia and Africa, where military modernization and outdoor recreation are expanding, offer significant growth opportunities. Verified Market Reports
• [New] MENA, India, Southeast Asia and Latin America will be growth regions for mobile-first gaming, esports, creator communities, youth entertainment and local-language content. Carlos J. Ochoa Fernandez
• [New] The next few weeks will be closely watched to see whether the summer-holiday lift can help narrow the year-on-year gap and strengthen Thailand's tourism momentum heading into the second half of 2026. The Nation Editorial Team
• [New] On the demand side, Healy expects leisure travel to outperform business travel in 2026, even if consumers shorten trips or choose lower-cost destinations. Auto Rental News
• [New] One-quarter of all advertising delivered to US television screens will be tied to live sports and surrounding programming. Index Exchange
• [New] With Argentina, there will always be a great atmosphere, entertainment, and full stadiums. The Guardian
• [New] Extending Sports Sponsorships into Entertainment Wins: Imagine Entertainment, DICK'S Sporting Goods, and Fox Sports are proving that sports sponsorships can be the starting point for premium entertainment, not just logo placement. Tribeca
• [New] Significant growth is anticipated in the Indian Media & Entertainment (M & E) sector, forecasting a rise of 10.2%, amounting to Rs. IMARC Group
• Media and entertainment is projected to grow at a 33.56% CAGR through 2031, which reflects the increasing value of subscriber-level behaviour data in streaming and digital advertising. Mordor Intelligence
• Media and entertainment is projected to expand at a 38.19% CAGR through 2031, which makes it the fastest-growing end-user segment. Mordor Intelligence
• Sky, which is owned by the US telecoms company Comcast, will pay £1.2bn in cash initially for ITV's media and entertainment business, which includes its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform. The Guardian
• 72.2 million Americans will travel during the Independence Day holiday period in 2026, setting another record and surpassing last year's historic total. LinkedIn
• Global revenues in women's elite sports will reach US$ 3 billion for the first time in 2026. Biz Republic
• Football and basketball are expected to remain as the top revenue-generating women's sports globally in 2026, with each expected to represent 35% of the total revenue. Biz Republic
• Monetization through connected commerce and entertainment services will remain a key factor sustaining growth beyond 2030. Persistence Market Research
• KPMG The adoption of immersive technologies in entertainment and tourism could generate an additional 5 billion pounds in revenue by 2030 as users seek novel forms of engagement. Shaping Tomorrow

Last updated: 29 July 2026