Digital art is finally achieving mainstream acceptance in the art world. According to The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025, digital art as a medium ranked third in the total spending of the 3,100 high-net-worth respondents, after painting and sculpture, with more than half (51%) purchasing a digital artwork in 2024 or 2025. After years of fluctuation, reaching a peak of 15% during the NFT boom of 2022, the average share of digital art in collections increased from 3% in 2024 to 13% in 2025. ʻThe increase reflects a market that has passed through speculation, correction, and now something like maturation; not a recovery to prior highs but a new, more grounded equilibrium, one which we are optimistic presents a sustainable path forward,ʼ says Aniko Berman, the director of Art of This Millennium (AOTM), a gallery specializing in contemporary digital art.

This year, Art Basel launches Zero 10, a new section for digital and new media art which debuts at Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. AOTM will participate alongside 11 other exhibitors including Art Blocks, bitforms gallery, Pace Gallery, and SOLOS, and there will be an interactive installation by Beeple (AKA American artist Mike Winkelmann). The fair’s new initiative responds to recent market trends as well as an increased, now widespread presence of digital art in institutions. ʻThe NFT community and digital-forward art collectors have been integrating themselves into museums at a much higher level in the past two years, and it trickles down into a wider collector base,ʼ says Steven Sacks, director of New York-based bitforms gallery, which he founded in 2001. ʻIf youʼre seeing more [institutional] shows that are devoted to this kind of work, my opinion is there will be more interest. The credibility of being in a museum gives confidence to collectors,ʼ he adds. 

Sacks points to major installations such as Refik Anadol’s ʻUnsupervisedʼ in 2022-23 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. ʻWe are one of the few galleries that can sell Anadol’s work and while that piece was up it was the most work weʼve ever sold in 25 years from a single artist,ʼ Sacks says. Several key digital art exhibitions have taken place in the past year, including ʻElectric Dreams: Art and Technology Before the Internetʼ at Tate Modern in London; ʻApophenia, Interruptions: Artists and Artificial Intelligence at Workʼ from Paris’ Centre Pompidou; ʻDigital Witness: Revolutions in Design, Photography, and Filmʼ at Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and ʻInfinite Images: The Art of Algorithmsʼ at Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. 

At Zero 10, bitforms will present three artists from across different generations, each interpreting the concept of ʻgenerativeʼ in their own way. Its booth will include the 87-year-old German artist Manfred Mohr who is considered a pioneer of digital art; Casey Reas, an American artist born in 1972, who uses software to create conceptual, minimalist works; and Maya Man, a Gen Z, American artist who explores contemporary identity culture on the internet. The works on sale will be a combination of screen-based works, NFTs, and physical artworks derived from their digital counterparts. 

Acquiring historical digital works is particularly interesting, given the ways that technology has dated or changed even over the past few decades. Having worked in the field for 25 years, Sacks of bitforms often advises buyers on tech migration. Digital art collector and art historian Dr. Annette Doms says, ʻWhen hardware or formats shift, I sometimes need to adapt or reconfigure the works to new systems – a process that feels both challenging and deeply engaging.ʼ . Domsʼ collection is around 80% digital and includes artists such as Gretchen Andrew, Cory Arcangel, Anouk Kruithof, and Frieder Nake. 

Another surprising statistic from the Survey of Global Collecting 2025 was a higher-than-average share of buyers for digital art in France (26%) and Japan (18%). In many ways, the preference for digital art in these locales makes sense. ʻIn France, the state’s historic commitment to contemporary creation – through institutions such as the Centre Pompidou and dedicated media-art initiatives – has cultivated a collector base comfortable with time-based and technology-driven work,ʼ says AOTMʼs Berman. ʻSeparately, Japan is awash in technology-driven immersive environments, making digital art familiar and attractive to collectors.ʼ But other countries are also vying for the reputation of digital art stronghold. Berman adds Korea to the list, as well as the US, and Sacks concurs, naming New York and Miami and key cities. Doms advocates for Hamburg, with the UBS Digital Art Museum set to open there in 2026, as well as Dubai and Doha. 

Despite the NFT and crypto fields being male-dominated, the survey showed that the share of digital art in womenʼs collections (15%) was higher than in men’s (11%). ʻWomen have historically played an important role in new forms of patronage and collecting new forms of art,ʼ says Berman, citing Isabella Stewart Gardner, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Peggy Guggenheim, and the late Agnes Gund. ʻIn my opinion, women tend to be more daring or risk-loving when it comes to cultural investment – prioritizing aesthetic value over financial speculation. They may also care less about how they are perceived by their peers, making them more willing to take chances versus following the crowd,ʼ explains Berman. On the other hand, Doms says the difference is negligible: ʻI don’t believe in such statistics,ʼ she says, ʻespecially not in the crypto market, where many IDs and wallets remain anonymous. The interest in art has nothing to do with gender issues.ʼ Sacks adds that a gender difference can be seen much more clearly in other related areas of the market. ʻI have seen many more female artists in the new media realm emerging over the past five years,ʼ he says. 

Unsurprisingly, there is a greater tendency towards digital art collecting among Gen Z. The results of the Survey of Global Collecting 2025 showed that 68% of Gen Z women owned a digital artwork compared to 49% of Gen X women. As the first generation of digital natives, digital art acquisition feels more ʻnaturalʼ to them, says a Gen Z collector who goes by the pseudonym GMSpace. His art collection is around 90% digital and includes works by artists such as Pak, Tyler Hobbs, Refik Anadol, and Sam Spratt. ʻFor Gen Z, the screen is not a “window” but a home. We grew up immersed in digital culture, creating, sharing, and remixing images and ideas online.ʼ Sacks agrees but adds that most are buying ʻat a different economic level,ʼ with Gen Z collectors often buying works for under $5,000, he says. 

There is a whole market for buying digital art online that in the past has sidestepped the traditional ecosystem of galleries, fairs, and auctions. For example, AOTM’s booth at Zero 10 will be its first-ever physical presentation since its founding in 2022, and will show new and existing work by algorithmic artist Dmitri Cherniak. GMSpace says that he mostly buys works ʻthrough the network,ʼ from conversations and discoveries in-person or on platforms such as X or Discord. ʻThe most meaningful moments still happen directly with creators: a dinner after an exhibition opening, a studio visit with the 100 collectors club [a private club for digital art collectors], or a simple DM that turns into a friendship,ʼ he says. However, he notes ʻthe importance of both physical-world exhibitions and market visibility for digital art,ʼ citing Gazelli Art House’s presentation of Harold Cohen’s early computer art at Frieze Masters this year.

For many collectors, it is the increased level of interaction within the field of digital art that appeals to them. ʻIt’s connected to contracts, rights, and responsibilities, and it evolves with technological change,ʼ Doms says. ʻWhat fascinates me most is that I can carry my digital artworks with me anywhere in the world – and still display them on my walls at home.ʼ GMSpace agrees: ʻDigital art is not just a medium – it’s a new kind of patronage where collectors are helping to shape a living ecosystem of ideas, experiments, and technologies, which are still in formation.’