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Online Art Sales in 2025: Why the Digital Art Market Is Driven by Mid-Price Works
One of the most revealing findings in the Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2026 concerns the continued development of online sales.
Online art sales fell to $9.2 billion in 2025, their lowest level since 2019. At first glance, this decline might appear to signal a retreat from digital channels after the pandemic-era boom. But the reality is more nuanced. The digital market has not disappeared. Instead, it has settled into a specific segment of the market defined by price.
More than 56% of the value of offline auction sales comes from works priced above $1 million, while those works account for just 2% of online-only auction value. By contrast, 63% of online auction value comes from works priced below $50,000, with the largest concentration in the $5,000–$50,000 range.
In other words, the internet has not moved the top of the art market online. Instead, it has expanded the middle of the market, where collectors buy more frequently, experiment with artists, and often enter the market for the first time.
This dynamic was echoed during the report’s launch discussion, where Noah Horowitz, CEO of Art Basel, noted that much of the activity at lower price levels is being driven by collectors “sticking their toes in the water.” For the industry, he suggested, this requires adapting to a new environment in which discovery increasingly takes place through digital channels. “People are going to be researching and finding artists,” he said, adding that dealers and gallerists themselves now frequently use social media platforms to discover emerging talent.
Technology, Horowitz acknowledged, can feel overwhelming. Yet it also opens new avenues for participation and visibility across the market.
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