Racing drone market size growing to $2,060.7m

Racing drones also called FPV (First Person View) refers to high speed small sized drone with specific configurations required to participate into racing sport events worldwide. Drone racing is a sport event which was initiated in Australia (2013) wherein many drone pilots met together to participate in a championship. 

The participating machine must have to fulfil the specific requirements of organising leagues wherein factors such as weight, speed, motors, and propellers plays very important role. Racing drones are basically high-speed machines along with FPV camera and controller which is operated by a high skilled pilot in such sports championships.

Increasing production propelled by adoption across the world, introduction of high-speed drones, rising expenditure in R&D, increasing racing sports tournaments across different countries in the world, and increasing adoption of such racing trends by different countries are some of the major factors aiding in the growth of this market. In addition, factors such as requirement of highly skilled pilots to operate these machines in the racing tournaments and complexity in assembly of parts for beginners are some of the major restraining factors impacting negatively.

Among drone type, the market was segmented into RTF (Ready-to-Fly) and ARF (Almost-Ready-to-Fly). RTF are the drones which comes with complete assembled parts and a controller along with it to which the operator can easily operate it directly without any difficulties to assemble the parts. ARF comes up with disassembled parts to which the operator has to combine all the parts based on its requirements to make it operable in the field.

Most of the FPV pilots have their preference towards ARF drones so that they can customise it to gain more speed by replacing high speed motors, propellers, and other components based on a event eligibility criterion. ARF segment was estimated to be largest sub-segment in 2019 and also it is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period as well. This is owing to cost of ARF against RTF which is more expensive as it has customisable options which provide the flexibility to the pilots.

Among application, the market is segmented into rotorcross, drag race, and time trial. Rotorcross is a racing event where many drones compete across an arena full of obstacles & number of laps wherein the first drone to cross the finish line wins the championship. Drag race is a racing event in which a number of pilots race together wherein the drone which achieve highest speed wins the race. Similarly, time trial is an event wherein the participants have to complete the laps in a minimum amount of time.

In 2019, rotorcross segment dominated the market and expected to be largest during the forecast period as well. This is owing to the increasing number of rotorcross events across different regions of the world. For instance, MultiGP is one of the biggest racing events across the world and till 2019 it has organised more than 12,500 racing events since 2015. Similarly, DCL (Drone Champions League) is another major event which occurs every year across different regions in the world. These events are expected to increase the demand for FPV across the world.

Among component type, the market is segmented into airframe, motors, camera/sensors, propellers, and others which comprises of components such as batteries, transmitters, controllers, connectors, etc. Airframe was accounted for one of the largest market shares in 2019. This is due to its high cost being propelled by lightweight composite material used to design it in order to attain lesser overall weight and achieve higher speed in the racing events.

Among regions, North America was estimated to be the largest region in 2019 and is also expected to remain the largest during the forecast period as well. The US is one of the major regions and accounted for more than 70% of share in North America. Moreover, increasing awareness for drone racing sports across the region among the audience and growing adoption across different end-user sectors are some of the major factors aiding the growth of the market in the region.

Furthermore, Asia Pacific was expected to be the fastest growing region during the forecast period of 2020 to 2026 propelled by countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea.

The global market is moderately consolidated and the top five players of this market accounted for more than a share of 45% in 2019, according to Polaris Market Research. These companies are continuously investing in R&D activities in order to fulfil the continuous demands for better technologically advanced products.