Online art and antiques sales were estimated at $10.5 billion in 2024, representing 18% of the global art market by value. Although that total was 11% below 2023, it remained 76% above the pre-pandemic 2019 level. The figures show a market that has cooled from its pandemic peak while keeping much of its digital infrastructure and audience.
Contents
- Global market size and recent direction
- Growth before and during the pandemic
- Mobile, social, and livestream commerce
- Online-only auctions and prices
- Categories in online-only auctions
- Dealers, websites, and new buyers
- Buyer and platform outlook indicators
Global market size and recent direction
The latest Art Basel and UBS whole-market estimate places online-only art and antiques sales at $10.5 billion in 2024. Online transactions accounted for 18% of total global art-market sales by value. The 2024 estimate was down 11% from the $11.8 billion reported for 2023, when online sales had increased 7% year over year. (The Global Market - The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025; The Art Market Remains Resilient in 2023)
The longer comparison is more favorable than the latest annual change. The $10.5 billion 2024 estimate was 76% above 2019. In 2022, online-only sales were estimated at $11.0 billion, down 17% from the 2021 peak of $13.3 billion, and online sales represented 16% of total art-market turnover. That 2022 level was still 85% higher than 2019 under the Art Basel/UBS whole-market estimate. (The Global Market - The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025)
| Measurement | Online sales | Share or change |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 baseline | — | Reference year |
| 2020 | — | 25% of total market; more than twice 2019’s share |
| 2021 peak | $13.3 billion | Peak cited for 2022 comparison |
| 2022 | $11.0 billion | 16% of turnover; 17% below 2021 |
| 2023 | $11.8 billion | 7% year-over-year increase |
| 2024 | $10.5 billion | 18% of market; 11% below 2023 |
Online sales reached 25% of total art-market sales at the 2020 pandemic peak, more than twice the 2019 share in the same Art Basel/UBS series. The 2024 share was seven percentage points below that peak. Online sales were below each of the preceding four years in 2024, but remained above pre-pandemic levels. (The Global Market - The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025)
These figures use a specific definition: online-only transactions reported by galleries, dealers, and auction houses through websites, online viewing rooms, platforms, or email without an in-person viewing or presale contact. Online bidding at a live sale is excluded. That scope matters when comparing totals with broader digital activity.
Growth before and during the pandemic
The Hiscox online art trade series tracks a different population: 73 international online sales platforms. It estimated platform sales at $1.507 billion in 2013, $2.636 billion in 2014, and $3.274 billion in 2015. Sales then rose to $3.753 billion in 2016, a 14.6% year-over-year increase, followed by $4.221 billion in 2017, $4.636 billion in 2018, and $4.819 billion in 2019. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
The same Hiscox estimate reached $7.892 billion in 2020, up 64% from 2019. During the first half of 2021, Hiscox recorded $6.795 billion in online art-platform sales, up 72% from the comparable prior measurement. This sequence captures the sharp acceleration in platform activity during the pandemic period. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
The series should not be added to Art Basel/UBS totals. Hiscox platform estimates exclude direct gallery websites, art-fair online viewing rooms, and NFT sales, while the whole-market series covers online-only transactions reported across galleries, dealers, and auction houses. The two sources therefore illuminate different parts of online art commerce.
Mobile, social, and livestream commerce
Mobile commerce generated an estimated $3.1 billion, or 46% of online art sales, in the first half of 2021 in the Hiscox platform series. In 2019, mobile commerce generated an estimated $1.92 billion and represented 40% of online art sales. The measurements suggest that mobile activity became a larger part of platform commerce during the period covered. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Social channels were also prominent among surveyed online art-sales platforms in 2021. Instagram was rated important or very important for driving sales by 89% of platforms. Facebook received that rating from 68%, while 26% rated YouTube important for driving sales. These are survey results from participating platforms, not measurements of every online art buyer or transaction. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Livestreaming created another route to scale. More than 1 million combined viewers watched Christie’s livestreamed marquee-week sales through its website and social channels in 2020. Viewer totals are not the same as sales totals, but they show how auction houses used digital distribution to reach audiences beyond a physical sale room. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Online-only auctions and prices
Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips generated $1.1 billion from online auctions in 2020, compared with $168 million in 2019. In the first half of 2021, their online-only auction sales reached $671 million, up 70% from the comparable period in 2020. Online-only auctions represented 14.2% of the three houses’ total auction sales in 2020, versus 1.2% in 2019. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Auction frequency increased alongside value. The three houses held 93 online-only auctions in 2019, 216 in all of 2020, and 238 in the first half of 2021. They also recorded $116 million in NFT sales during the first half of 2021. These figures are limited to the named houses and stated periods. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Average prices rose across the same comparison. The average online-only auction price was $24,921 in the first half of 2021, versus $8,259 in 2019. Average fine-art prices reached $42,000, up from $10,000 in 2019. Jewels-and-watches prices reached $18,000, compared with $5,700, while design, decorative-arts, and furniture prices reached $10,500, compared with $4,300. Clothing-and-accessories prices reached $10,300, compared with $6,700. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Categories in online-only auctions
Fine art accounted for 66% of online-only sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips in the first half of 2021, up from 54% in 2020. Jewels and watches accounted for 16%, down from 22% in 2020. Design, decorative arts, and furniture represented 5% in the first half of 2021. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Other collectible categories also expanded. Sports memorabilia, comics, and sneakers generated $24.4 million in online-only sales in the first half of 2021, versus $7.5 million in the first half of 2020. The category totals indicate that online-only auction activity extended beyond traditional fine art, even as fine art remained the largest named segment. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Dealers, websites, and new buyers
Online sales were 22% of dealers’ total sales in 2024, down one percentage point from 2023 but above the 13% recorded in 2019. The dealer measure is distinct from the 18% share of the entire global art market because it focuses on dealers’ own sales mix. (Dealers - The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025)
Digital channels were especially important for customer acquisition. The share of dealers’ online sales made to new buyers rose to 46% in 2024, from 35% in 2023. Dealers’ own websites and online channels increased their share of dealer online sales by more than two times between 2019 and 2024. Among dealers surveyed for 2024, 44% of buyers were new to the business, and those new buyers generated 38% of sales value. (Dealers - The Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2025)
Buyer and platform outlook indicators
The Hiscox archive reported estimated online art sales of $10.8 billion in 2022, up 6% from $10.2 billion in 2021. This is a separate platform-based series and should not be combined with the Art Basel/UBS whole-market totals. (Hiscox Online Art Trade Report Archive)
In the Hiscox 2023 report, 61% of respondents said they planned to invest in fractional art ownership in the following year. Also, 54% expressed little or no concern about the environmental impact of buying art online. Both figures describe surveyed respondents rather than the entire collector market. (Hiscox Online Art Trade Report Archive)
Platform expectations were strongly positive in the earlier survey period: 97% of surveyed online art platforms expected the online art market’s next 12 months to be positive in 2021, compared with 80% in 2020. These were outlook indicators at the time, not forecasts for 2026. (Hiscox online art trade report 2021 - part one)
Finally, among high-net-worth collectors surveyed for 2024/2025, 51% of those who bought from a dealer had purchased at least once via Instagram without viewing the work in person. The result points to the continuing importance of trust, presentation, and social discovery in digital art buying, while remaining limited to that surveyed collector group. (Sales Channels - The Art Basel & UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025)