From Typewriters to AI Content Generators – The AIContentGen Market Survey

In 1979 I left for my Freshman year in college at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  I jumped into my Chevy Chevette packed to the hilt that included a high school graduation gift from my parents, a portable, manual Smith-Corona typewriter.  Little did I know that my popular typewriter came from a highly concentrated industry that a decade prior was dominated by only five companies accounting for 79.7% of the market, spurring action by the FTC.1

Now we’re looking to identify a similar but 2020’s market size and share, albeit at a different maturity curve.  AIContentGen is working on a market size survey for the AI content generation industry. We are using various approaches to gather information and estimate the market’s current size for AI content generation software. 

The survey will be sent to AI companies to ask a series of questions about their sales of AI content software and information about growth rates. As a result, AIContentGen will develop research on: 

1. The size of the market
2. Growth rates

The objective is to estimate the potential market for AI content creation and the percentage of customers willing to adopt AI content software. If you had a market of 1000 customers, 20% of customers are willing to buy and use AI software, the market size would be 200 customers. 

Another way to estimate the market potential is to conduct surveys with customers and determine the percentage of customers in a market using the product and the number of customers considering jumping in. 

In addition to estimating the potential size, we can also conduct a survey of AI companies and ask how many subscribers they have using the software. 

Some AI companies might be concerned about not participating in such a survey. Here are some reasons why it’s important to give some numbers on the market’s potential size, the current size of the market, and the growth rates. 

• Start-up AI companies are looking for venture or angel investment; if the market can demonstrate a potential business in the industry, it will make it easier to raise additional investments. 
• Customers waiting on the sidelines will be more willing to jump in and start using AI content generation tools if they get a sense of the current scope of the market. 
• Sizing the market by industry or type of content will help you focus marketing efforts or avoid working in a market that you think has sufficient customers but doesn’t. 
• By understanding the market scale, AI companies can estimate their profits and what resources will be available to generate revenue based on potential profits. Further, suppose there are more players in segments of the market. In that case, a market size report can be used to understand the potential profit that could be made based on the market size for an industry or type of content and the number of competitors in the market. 

Quotes from investors: Why a market size view is important

Ray Chang  – Founder, Advisor, and Investor

“Knowing and understanding the market size helps investors understand what the available profit could be.  Some investors may be less risk-averse and would rather play in a small market than a bigger market.  Or, from a strategic point of view, a smaller market would be better for one application of a product to test it out.  If it’s successful, perhaps they could expand to other markets with changes such as language or color, etc.”

Lauren Nham – Product + Ventures + Investor – NewChic Capital, MetaCap Ventures & GovingVC Partners

“In short, attractive underserved markets. Market opportunity & market timing.”

“What’s the current state, and where will it go? Where does it cross over and connect across industries and functions and geopolitical regions? For example, consumer behavior and needs evolve, and how well the market serves (or underserves) target market segments constantly fluxes. Too large and the market is only suitable for late-stage, too early, and the mainstream PMF (Product Market Fit) may exist beyond target return windows.

A true understanding of the market would identify interlocks across different sectors and tranches of the value chain. The ability to see the market in a truly multi-dimensional view is where the opportunity lies.”

Examples of  Market Size Studies Impacting New Industries

Word of Mouth, MarTech & ABM

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association was founded in 2004. The association was a trade group set up to promote Word of Mouth Marketing, which was the term used in the industry before the adoption of social media. WOMMA had companies as members, and the trade group held industry meetings, conducted important research on the value of word of mouth marketing to companies, and generally promoted the industry. Without WOMMA and its work, social media would not have been adopted as quickly as a strategy by as many companies as it was in the United States; the trade group helped demonstrate the market potential and size. The Association of National Advertisers acquired WOMMA in 2018.

MarTech

Scott Brinker’s now famous Marketing Technology Landscape Map infographic showing the extent of the Marketing Technology industry helped popularize the growing importance of Marketing Technology amongst marketers. The series of yearly infographics illustrate the growth of the industry and its weight in the industry. Without the infographic, customers will not be as aware of the different marketing technology categories or that their peers and competitors are using so many kinds of marketing technology. The landscape Map helped set the industry’s understanding of the importance of the industry and fueled lots of interest from customers in what technology to pick. 

Jon Miller’s ABM Market Map

Co-founder of Marketo, Jon Miller, helped explain the benefits of Account-Based marketing with his simple ABM Market Map; again, he helped scope out the different categories of marketing technology that make up the strategy of ABM. Marketers used the map to follow the strategy of ABM and select vendors for marketing technology. 

The AIContentGen Market Survey

Will our Market Survey show a highly concentrated market for AI Writers? Not likely. But this first market survey will put a stake in the ground and we hope that it will benefit all stakeholders in the market. 

Do you work at an AI Content Generation company and would like to get a hold of an AI Content Generation Market Size Report?  The first step is to contact AIContentGen to answer our Market Size Survey. 

Footnote:

1 “In 1968 the year prior to the acquisition in question the two top ranking firms IBM and Royal accounted for about 50.3 percent and the four leading firms IBM Royal SCM and Olivetti Underwood for about 79.7 percent.

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION DECISIONS V FINDINGS OPINIONS AND ORDERS JANUARY 1 1973 TO JUNE 30 1973 PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSION VOLUME 82 UNITED ALTRADE 2903 S OFAMER Compiled by Rules and Publications Section of the Office of the Secretary US GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1973 sale by the Superintendent of Documents US Government Printing Washington DC 20402 Price 14.95 STOCK NUMBER 1800 00159 p. 1009.