The online art market has settled into a “hybrid normal” after the pandemic-era spike: online-only sales remain far above pre-2020 levels, but have eased from their 2021 peak as fairs, galleries, and auctions returned to fuller in-person schedules.
$10.5B in online sales in 2024 (down 11% year over year).
$11.8B in online sales in 2023 (up 7% year over year).
$11.0B in online-only sales in 2022 (down 17% from the 2021 peak).
$13.3B online sales peak in 2021.
16% of global art market turnover was online in 2022; 18% in 2023.
22% of dealer sales were online in 2024 (vs 13% in 2019).
Online art sales value (selected years)
Art market reporting often tracks online-only sales across dealer and auction channels. The series below highlights the post-2021 normalization while staying well above pre-pandemic levels.
Online’s share of total turnover rose sharply during 2020, then eased as offline activity returned. Recent reporting places online at 16% (2022) and 18% (2023). For 2024, the share below is implied by online sales ($10.5B) relative to total global market sales ($57.5B).
Channel mix: dealer e-commerce is staying elevated
Dealer online sales were 22% of total dealer sales in 2024, staying well above the pre-pandemic level of 13% (2019).
Recent reporting notes that growth in online sales has increasingly come through dealers’ own websites and online channels rather than solely third-party marketplaces.
Even with major houses running large online programs, the highest-priced works still tend to trade offline. In online-only fine art auction activity, reported results show a heavy concentration in lower price tiers.
Over 95% of transactions in online-only auctions were reported at prices below $50,000 (2023).
58% of the value of the online-only fine art auction market was from works sold for under $50,000 (2023).
Over 85% of value was from works sold for under $250,000 (2023).
NFT market context (digital segment)
Art-related NFTs remain a smaller, more volatile digital segment compared with the broader online art and antiques market.
Art-related NFT sales were reported at $1.2B in 2023, down 51% year over year from 2022.
Online art market size forecasts (separate market-research lens)
Some market-research firms track the “online art market” as its own industry category (definitions may differ from art-market reporting that measures online-only turnover). One widely cited estimate puts:
2024 online art market size:$11.09B
2033 projection:$19.25B
Sources
Art Basel — “The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2025” (press release page with 2024 online sales and dealer online share). https://www.artbasel.com/news/the-art-basel-and-ubs-global-art-market-report-2025?lang=en
Art Basel — “The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2025” (press release PDF). https://d2u3kfwd92fzu7.cloudfront.net/The_Art_Basel_and_UBS_Global_Art_Market_Report_2025_I_Press_Release_I_E_1_.pdf
The Art Market (Art Basel) — “The Art Market Report 2024 (Global Market)” (online sales in 2023, online-only auction price distribution, NFT figure). https://theartmarket.artbasel.com/the-art-market-2024/global-market
The Art Market (Art Basel) — “The Art Market 2023 (Global Market)” (online-only sales in 2022, 2021 peak, and online share in 2022). https://theartmarket.artbasel.com/the-art-market-2023/global-market
Grand View Research — “Online Art Market Size And Share” (2024 estimate and 2033 projection). https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/online-art-market-report
