Web content filtering market

Market Overview

A web content filter refers to a cybersecurity solution that is intended to regulate the content of the websites when a user visits the internet. Business organizations face numerous challenges regarding maintaining employee productivity and manage the use of the internet in the workplace. The web filter installed by the organization filters the content and origin of the web page by comparing it with rules provided by the company or a person. Over the years, web content filters have evolved from addressing issues such as employee distractions to more robust, flexible, and scalable filters that are capable of addressing complex security issues of a networked business world.

The global web content filtering market is estimated to account for US$ 6,589.1 Mn in terms of value by the end of 2027.

Market Dynamics- Drivers

1. Increasing productivity is expected to drive growth of the global web content filtering market during the forecast period

Regulating and monitoring online activities of every user on the network is a challenging task, particularly for large organizations. Unrestricted Internet use can induce employees to browse social networking, pornography, job hunting, sports, entertainment sites, etc. This consequently leads to lower productivity at the workplace. Research, surveys, and studies indicate that a significant amount of non-work-related browsing takes place during working hours. According to Coherent Market Insights’ analysis, around 60% of employees, waste around 1.7 hours of a typical nine-hour working day. Furthermore, with social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook growing at around 5 million new users per week, social distractions entering the workplace and potentially lowering productivity have been extremely high in recent years. Web content filtering helps to reduce such distractions and enhance productivity of employees. Thus, these factors are expected to drive growth of the global web content filtering market during the forecast period. 

2. Stringent government regulations are expected to hamper the global web content filtering market growth over the forecast period

Increasing need for strong data security and data loss prevention has compelled governments of various countries to enforce web content filtering policies and legislation. Legislations such as the CIPA (Child Internet Protection Act) and other privacy laws across the globe have fueled the growth of the market. Enacted in 2000, the CIPA aims to address concerns over access to obscene and harmful content over the internet by school children. The law mandates schools and libraries receiving federal assistance and e-rate discounts to install web content filters on PCs used by minors as well as adults. The PCIDSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) was developed to enhance cardholder data security and facilitate the wide adoption of data security measures across the globe. Therefore, such regulations are expected to propel the global web content filtering market growth over the forecast period.

Statistics:

North America held dominant position in the global web content filtering market in 2019, accounting for 34.7% share in terms of value, followed by Asia-Pacific, Europe, and RoW respectively.

Figure 1: Global Web Content Filtering Market Share (%), in terms of Value, By Region, 2019

Market Dynamics- Restraints

1. Restricted educational resources and business issues are expected to restrain growth of the global web content filtering market during the forecast period

Although web content filtering is used for improving productivity and reducing bandwidth use, it does not serve the said purpose as it limits the use of content mean for educational purpose. This, in turn, negatively impacts the business. The negative impact may be in the form of restricted access to possible consumers, especially on an international scale, or even restricted access for organizations to other potential websites for services and supplies. Such restricted access prevents the organization from accessing best services and competing on a global scale with full capacity. Hence, these factors are expected to restrain growth of the global web content filtering market during the forecast period.

2. Cost and violation of rights are expected to hamper the global web content filtering market growth over the forecast period

Implementing a web content filtering system or censorship system, either on a large scale within a government or on a small scale within a facility, is expensive. It also consumes time and resources. The organization or user has to bear the additional cost of labor and equipment needed to install a filter. A filter, firewall, or any other form of censorship needs to be maintained, repaired, and upgraded regularly. This consumes time and also adds to the cost. Therefore, these factors are expected to hamper the market growth over the forecast period.

Market Opportunities

1. Rapid development of multiplatform solutions can provide major business opportunities

The web filtering market offers a huge opportunity to sellers as well as end-users. Greater financial benefits offered by freeing up bandwidth present strong reasons for higher adoption of filtering software. Heavy traffic on websites during events such as the World Cup and Olympics creates network bandwidth issues for firms of all sizes and types. This offers sellers an opportunity to tap organizations for the adoption of web content filtering solutions.

2. Growing demand for next-generation web filtering solutions can present lucrative growth opportunities

There is a high demand for next-generation web filtering solutions namely cloud-based web security solution. It prevents malware, inspect internet traffic, filters by category, detects advanced threats, protects data, and controls app use for any user. Many organizations are demanding such advanced filtering solutions to enhance their productivity and protect their network from possible cyber-attack.

Figure 2: Global Web Content Filtering Market Value (US$ Mn), 2017 - 2027

The global web content filtering market was valued at US$ 2,579.6 Mn in 2019 and is forecast to reach a value of US$ 6,589.1 Mn by 2027 at a CAGR of 12.7% between 2020 and 2027.

Market Trends

1. Web content filtering software and solutions initially started off as a niche product. However, within a few years of its introduction, these have become essential tools for organizations and firms introducing web usage policies. Growing need to protect corporate network from security breaches has led to the growth of the market. Higher awareness regarding the need to control internet-related security issues has compelled firms to adopt content filtering solutions on a broader scale. The prevailing trend among developers is to try and come up with solutions that work as firewalls, anti-viruses, and intrusion prevention systems besides serving the web content filtering functions.
2. One of the primary trends in the web content filtering industry is the strategy of aggressive acquisitions carried out by the players in the market. This has helped players to better penetrate the market and strengthen their product offerings, thereby enabling them to gain a higher market share. For instance, the U.S.-based Palo Alto Networks, Inc.’s acquisition of Morta Security has strengthened the former’s enterprise security offerings.

Value Chain Analysis

Constituents of web content filtering value chain include web servers, site categorization database, policies and end-users such as private business organizations, public organizations, and government organizations. These organizations employ multiple filtering techniques such as URL filtering, file type filtering and keyword filtering. The contracting organization creates a database of URLs and keywords which when requested deny or block access to sites. The organization also constructs a set of rules to enforce its IAP (Internet Access Policy) and install web content filtering software or solution between the client browser and the outside world.

Global Web Content Filtering Market - Impact of Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic

Due to Covid-19 pandemic, many industries witnessed significant shift in their business. There is significant impact on web content filtering market, globally, most of the countries are affected by COVID-19 and most of the countries have announced lockdown. Most of the private companies have announced work from home till the situation gets under control. Due to in-home isolation worldwide, web content filtering software are being used for providing securities in the communication and live virtual events for minimizing the social and economic impact of the outbreak. For instance, in May 2020, Facebook, Twitter, and Shopify Inc. have decided to make partial or full work from home to minimize the spread of COVID-19 across the globe.

Competitive Section

Key players operating in the global web content filtering market are Blue Coat Systems, Inc., Bloxx, Ltd., Barracuda Networks, Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., MacAfee, Inc., Palo Alto Networks, Inc., Symantec Corporation, Kaspersky Lab, Trend Micro, Inc., Zscaler, Inc., Websense, Inc., and ContentKeeper Technologies.