Forbes reports on a study done by SkyPixel, an online community for drone users, showing how those surveyed intend to use their unmanned airships.
According to the survey, 75.1 percent of those asked said they were going to use their drones for photography, which, along with filmmaking could fall into the TV newsgathering category TVSpy just invented since it’s not in the survey.
Perhaps more interestingly, within the group surveyed, 59.68% said their flights would be recreational, however 30% of recreational pilots said that they also intend to fly for professional purposes — revealing some of the natural mixed motives of people who might want to transition their hobby into a potentially lucrative profession.
As users begin becoming more professional they are likely to buy more drones. That may explain why the Consumer Electronics Association predicts that consumer drone sales will be up 49% this year with an increase in 341,000 units sold over last year. In the SkyPixel survey, over half of respondents (56%) reported having more than one drone, and 62.3% of pilots planning to use drones professionally already own more 2 or more drones.