This industry benchmark report pulls together our latest research on both the consumer and commercial markets to offer insight into the drone industry’s overall direction. Published in September 2018, it includes the results from our survey on drone buyers, service providers, business and public agency users, and software services, plus insights into the verticals that use drone data.

1. 1Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |

2. 2Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Benchmark research Data collected for our latest study comes from a survey we conducted over the
web in July and August 2018 and interviews performed with business users in
Q1 and Q2 of 2018.
We evaluate four distinct segments of the market:
1. Drone Purchases
2. Service Providers
3. Business and Public Agency Users
4. Software Apps and Services
Our online survey garnered over 2,500 respondents representing over 60
industries worldwide.
Sponsors:Large sample size means
the statistics are reliable
• Confidence level 99%
• Margin of error ±2.6%

3. 3Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Sample results

4. 4Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Current market leader
DJI is the clear market share leader in drone aircraft sales, industrial use,
and almost every software category.
More DJI aircraft are used by service providers and business users than any
other brand. They also have more partnerships supporting a standardized
ecosystem workflow than any other.
Our data shows DJI is the dominant brand for drone aircraft purchases, with
a 74% global market share across all price points. It’s even higher share
(86%) of the core $1,000–$2,000 price segment.
DJI dominates the drone aircraft add-on payload market. Their Zenmuse
brand RGB camera / sensor / gimbal combinations now account for nearly a
third (31%) of all purchases.
Drone Brand Market Share
74%
5%
3%
3%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
8%
DJI
Yuneec
Custom / DIY
3D Robotics
Parrot
Syma
Autel
Hubsan
SenseFly
Blade
Other brand (please
specify)
n = 1955
Source: Skylogic Research

5. 5Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Purchases
Source: Skylogic Research
74%
26%
73%
buy forprofessional /
commercialpurposes
48% is to do film,
photo, or video
either hobby or
professional.
purchase direct fromthe
manufacturer
Amazon + eBay #2 at 20%.
purchased DJI drones
vs. all other brands
Individuals or organizations that purchased a drone in the past 12 months
We asked detailed questions
about:
• Type of aircraft
• Brand purchased
• Price
• Place of purchase
• Use objective
• More..

6. 6Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Top commercial uses
Professional Drone Use by Vertical
1. Film / Photo /Video (combo) 35%
2. Surveying and terrain mapping 13%
3. Asset and infrastructure inspection
and monitoring 8%
4. Education and training 7%
5. Agriculture / farming 6%
Top 5 Business Use Cases
18%
13%
9%
8%
7%
7%
6%
5%
4%
4%
4%
14%
Photography / Video (Commercial)
Surveying and Mapping
Cinematography
Asset / Infrastructure / Facility Inspection
Education / Training
Real Estate
Agriculture / Farming
Testing / R&D
Academic Research
Construction or Building Design
Fire / Emergency Response / Search & Rescue
All other professional use
n = 1422
Source: Skylogic Research

7. 7Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Usage by price point
Source: Skylogic Research
“Prosumer” category is
very narrow.
ASP = < $800
insight
KEY
Descriptor Price Range
Hobby
Use
Professional
Use
Consumer Less than $500 59% 41%
Prosumer $500 - $999 46% 54%
Professional
$1,000 - $1,999 26% 74%
$2,000 - $3,999 9% 91%
$4,000 - $7,499 3% 97%
$7,500 - $34,999 1% 99%
$35,000 - $99,999 0% 100%
More than $100,000 0% 100%
More “consumer” drones are being used for commercial work than ever before.

8. 8Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Drone service providers Our survey finds only little more than 12% of drone service providers (DSPs)
make more than $100,000.
1 Surveying / Mapping / GIS
2 Utilities Infrastructure Inspection or Monitoring
3 Aerial Photography and/or Video
4 Construction (design, building, inspection, or monitoring)
5 Agriculture / Farming Services
6 Consulting
7 Education and Training
8 Cinematography / Movie / TV
9 Data Aggregation or Analytic Services
10 Mining or Aggregate Operations
Source: Skylogic Research
Top 10 Drone Services Making Over $100K/Year
Source: Skylogic Research

9. 9Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Industrial users We define business and public agency users as those individuals,
companies, or governmental departments that perform or contract out for
drone-based imaging or sensing services.
Business and Agency Outsourcing
We asked detailed questions about:
• Annual revenue
• Program state and maturity
• Number of aviation authority,
licensed small UAS / UAV remote
pilots employed
• Number of projects performed per
month
• Outsourcing
67%
10%
23%
72%
7%
21%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
In-house employees Outsourced to contractors A mix of both
2017 2018
n = 578
Source: Skylogic Research

10. 10Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Software services We define software services as the software apps or online services to log
flights, manage drone operations, plan missions, or process data from
drones.
Our confidence level for this portion of the survey is 99% ±3%.
We asked detailed questions about the software apps or online services
used to perform:
1. Flight logging and operation management
2. Automated flight / mission planning
3. Data, image, video processing

11. 11Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
Apps and software services
Drone Data / Image / Video Processing Software Market Share
45% use film / photo / video processing
software
All others (55%) use mapping and
photogrammetry software
21%
17%
17%
14%
7%
5%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%1%
9%
Adobe (Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere, etc.)
Pix4D
DJI GO / GO4 / Skypixel
DroneDeploy
Apple (iPhoto, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, etc.)
Agisoft Photoscan
Drone2Map for ArcGIS (esri)
Maps Made Easy
PrecisionHawk
Bentley Systems
Trimble (Business Center / UASMaster)
DJI PC Ground Station
3DR Site Scan
Autodesk (Forge, ReCap, 123D)
DroneMapper
All others (less than 1%)
n = 1228
Source: Skylogic Research

12. 12Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
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10keyinsights
107pages
51figures
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13. 13Copyright 2018 Skylogic Research, LLC |
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