By 2030, McKinsey predicts that metaverse-related spending could net $5 trillion a year. In the coming years, 25% of people will spend at least one hour in the metaverse, according to Gartner.
More than $120 billion has already been invested in the metaverse this year, doubling the amount invested during the entire last year, according to McKinsey data.
To prepare for the new virtual reality space, companies like Procter Gamble, Creative Artists Agency, Telefonica SA and LVMH are already making a string of hires, including for roles like chief metaverse officer and web 3 and NFT-integrated virtual reality.
Hamza Khan, a McKinsey partner who co-manages its work in the metaverse, said that brands need to get closer to their customers. This time around brands is a lot more active compared to the early days of e-commerce. McKinsey senior partners Eric Hazan and Lareina Yee said that the metaverse is the next platform on which we can work, live, connect and collaborate.
Nearly a third of business leaders believe that the metaverse will reshape their industry. Over the next five years, 25% of these leaders think the metaverse will yield 15% of the total margin growth in their business.
The research shows that 95% of executives believe the metaverse will have a positive influence on their industry, McKinsey s Yee said.
Brands like Starbucks, Adidas, and Procter Gamble have already waded into the metaverse, but it's not clear yet if the buzz word is more than hype and if consumers are actually latching onto the metaverse.
Clyde DeSouza, a creative technologist in the UAE, wrote recently that I am not impressed with what the 'crypto bros' are doing to the metaverse, degrading it to nothing more than pixelated NFT galleries with blocky avatars running around on Minecraft-like terrain.
There is still a gap in understanding for consumers. Not many people who have heard the term'metaverse' can explain it, in fact, only 15% of the surveyed people know how to explain it, and 72% of parents fear that it could jeopardize their children's privacy and 66% are concerned that it might harm their children's safety.