Archive for August, 2009

Innovation Rankings for Broadcast Technology Vendors

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 31 2009

I recently started a series of posts about how broadcast technology vendors brands were ranked in a variety of categories in the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), which includes responses from nearly 5,000 people in 110 countries.

For information about how these results were collected, please see the bottom of this post.

In a previous post I looked at the reliability rankings of broadcast technology vendors.  Today I’m going to look at how they were ranked for innovation.

The table below shows the top brands in the broadcast technology vendor league table for innovation.  In order to show geographic variation, these results are presented globally as well as regionally.

Please note that in all cases, these brands are shown in alphabetical order, NOT in the order of their ranking in the study

  

 Question: How would you rate [Brand X] on the following attribute [Innovation] where 1 = very poor and 10 = best in the market?

GLOBAL EMEA AMERICAS ASIA PACIFIC
EVS

Harris

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson / Grass Valley

 EVS

Quantel

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson / Grass Valley

 Evertz

Harris

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson / Grass Valley

 Evertz

Harris

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson / Grass Valley

 

As you can see, the mix of the vendors in the top five spots around the world were taken by the industry’s largest vendors, as well as several smaller (though not insignificant),  players including EVS, Snell & Wilcox and Quantel, who produce hardware and software for specialized post production and live production applications.  All the vendors on this list are well established players that make a significant investment into research and development each year.

While there is a great deal of consistency across the regions, it’s internsting to see some geographic variation.  In particular, strong European players (EVS and Quantel) did well in their home market, while Evertz and Harris came out in the top five in both the Americas and Asia-Pacific market.    The other three spots were taken by the same players (Snell & Wilcox, Sony and Thomson / Grass valley) in all regions.

 

* Respondents to the BBS were asked to rank their opinion of twenty-five broadcast technology vendor brands in a variety of categories including awareness; overall opinion; change of opinion; recommendation; and a variety of brand attributes and brand drivers.  The responses were then aggregated into a series of industry “league tables” that rank each broadcast technology vendor brand against the metrics mentioned above.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment »

EVS Posts Q209 and First 1/2 Year Results for 2009

Broadcast technology vendor financials, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 28 2009

Yesterday, EVS released their results for Q209 and first half of the year.  Like many companies, they are feeling the impact of the weak economy and their financial results show this.

Here’s how their latest results compare to Q208 (which of course was when purchasing for the Beijing Olympics and US election were underway).

* Revenue: -45.8% 

* Operating profit: -62.5%

* EBIT margin 44.3% versus 64% a year ago

* EMEA: -49.2%

* Americas: -27.2%

* Asia: -61.9%

Neverthless, the company has a strong cash position and those 44% EBIT margins are still pretty strong. 

EVS is an interesting company to me because they have a very strong brand in the broadcast market.  Indeed, as I mentioned in previous post, EVS was ranked as one of the top 5 brands for reliability in both EMEA and Asia by the nearly 5,000 respondents of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey. 

The EVS brand is also very highly rated in a number of other categories, as I will detail in future posts about broadcast technology vendor brands.

For more info about the recent EVS results, have a look at the following:

Link to press release:   http://bit.ly/19VSqq

Link to presentation to equity analysts: http://bit.ly/3h1BT

Tags: , ,
No Comments »

Reliability Rankings for Broadcast Technology Vendors

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 26 2009

This is the first in a series of posts about the how broadcast technology vendors brands were ranked in a variety of categories in the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), which includes responses from nearly 5,000 people in 110 countries.

Respondents to the BBS were asked to rank their opinion of twenty-five broadcast technology vendor brands in a variety of categories including awareness; overall opinion; change of opinion; recommendation; and a variety of brand attributes and brand drivers.  

The responses were then aggregated into a series of industry “league tables” that rank each broadcast technology vendor brand against the metrics mentioned above.

The table below shows the ranking of brands for reliability.  In order to show geographic variation, these results are presented globally as well as regionally.

Please note that in all cases, these brands are shown in alphabetical order, NOT in the order of their ranking in the study

  

 Question: How would you rate [Brand X] on the following attribute [Reliability] where 1 = very poor and 10 = best in the market?

GLOBAL EMEA AMERICAS ASIA PACIFIC
Evertz

EVS

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson Grass Valley

 EVS

Omneon

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson Grass Valley

 Evertz

Harris

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson Grass Valley

 EVS

Omneon

Snell & Wilcox

Sony

Thomson Grass Valley

 

There was some geographic consistency to the responses, with three vendors (S&W, Sony and Thomson / GVG) appearing in the top 5 across all three regions.  EVS, Evertz, Harris and Omneon also made the list.  The full (paid) version of the 2009 BBS provides the full league table rankings.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment »

What Broadcast Technology Vendors Most Want to Change About Their Companies

Broadcast technology channel strategy, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 19 2009

This is the last (for now) in a series of posts about trends that directly impact broadcast technology vendors. 

As part of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey, I asked approximately 550 broadcast technology hardware and software vendors about where they see sales growth over the next 2-3 years; how they expect to expand their sales networks ; and their go-to-market strategies –  today and in the future.   

Now I am going to look at what, to me anyway, was the most interesting vendor question in the study — i.e. what would broadcast technology vendors most like to improve about their organizations. 

Participating vendors were presented with the following list of eight issues and asked to rank which ones they would most like to change about their business.  

  • Business Development (partnerships)
  • Engineering
  • Internal Communications
  • Marketing
  • Product Management
  • Relationship with customers
  • Relationship with channel partners
  • Sales

 The results are summarized in the chart below, which also provides interesting insight into the difference in attitudes and business approach of vendors of different size.

Question: Which of the following issues would you most like to change about your business?

 

What Vendors Want to Change

When I wrote this question, I figured that most vendors would say they want to improve their product management function and internal communications, because this is what I have been told by many vendors.  However, what I found was that more than half of the respondents said that the thing they most want to change has to do with sales & marketing (marketing, business development and sales). 

What’s interesting to me about these results is that the top three choices are all externally focused, and yet many vendors I’ve spoken with have said that their goal is to improve the competitiveness of their product offering through better product management and engineering. 

I also found it interesting that there are clear differences in the internal priorities of broadcast technology vendors based on their size.

For example, the smallest (1-50 people) and the largest (500+ people) put greater emphasis on partnerships than medium-sized companies, while small companies placed a greater emphasis on sales.   There is also an interesting contrast between small and large companies.  More than half of the respondents from large companies said that the things they’d like to improve are relationship-based, in this case with their partners and customers and distribution channel.   This is probably because as companies grow they (for the most part) have overcome their growing pains and have put into place sufficiently rigorous processes for product management and engineering, and have shifted their emphasis towards relationship selling, whether direct or through third parties.

If you’re a broadcast technology vendor, do you agree with these findings?  If not, what is it that you would like to improve about your business and why?

Tags: , , ,
No Comments »

Comprehensive Research Report Reveals Industry Trends and Highlights Broadcast Technology Vendor Brands — Free Summary Available

broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 17 2009

Although I have mentioned it in many previous posts, I have not yet written specifically about the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), so I thought I’d take the opportunity to do that now.

Published in May 2009, the BBS is one of the largest ever and most comprehensive studies of broadcast technology vendor brands and industry trends (nearly 5,000 people from 110 countries participated in the study). The 2009 BBS provides insight into the perceptions of leading broadcast industry vendor brands by practitioners across the world. It also delivers vendor brand ranking in nine product categories; all of which can be segmented by geography and customer type.

In order to help promote my research I have entered into a partnership with the IABM, the broadcast vendor community’s trade association.  As part of this agreement, the information in report, its data collection and methodology, were reviewed by the IABM prior to publishing. The IABM now promotes Devoncroft research as part of its ongoing Market Research and Intelligence Services.  In return, Devoncroft provides IABM members with a discount when they purchase reports.

I have published two types of reports with the data from the 2009 BBS:

The BBS Global Brand Report provides a comprehensive overview of the market perceptions of a variety of broadcast vendor brands, including a ranking of brands in a series of industry “league tables.” It also provides a large number of “brand scorecards” that look at the perception of each brand segmented by customer type and geography — e.g. broadcasters in EMEA.

Nine separate BBS Product Reports rank vendor brand rankings in individual product categories (automation, cameras, conversion, modular infrastructure, master control switchers, multiviewers, production switchers, routing switchers and video servers)

The reports described above are paid-for products, and I am happy to say that they have been well-received by the industry.  However, I have also published a 26 page summary document that highlights the some of the key findings from the 2009 study, which is available free of charge.  This report provides an overview of industry trends and a listing of the top vendor brands in a variety of categories such as reliability, quality, innovation and customer service.

 It’s pretty interesting reading, and the best part is that it’s free once you register.

You can register for and download the free report here http://bit.ly/2Z125

Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »

Go-to-market strategies of broadcast technology vendors — today and in the future

broadcast industry technology trends, Broadcast technology channel strategy, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 06 2009

In recent posts I have looked at trends that directly impact broadcast technology vendors, including where vendors see their sales growth coming from over the next 2-3 years, and where vendors plan to open sales offices in the future.

Now let’s look at the go-to-market strategies of vendors — i.e. how do they sell today and how do they plan to sell in the future.  As part of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey, I asked approximately 550 broadcast technology vendors how they sell today — primarily direct, through distributors, or indirect — and how they predict they will sell in the future.

The results are summarized in the chart below:

Question: How do you currently sell?

Vendors -- how sell today

 

In general, broadcast technology vendors prefer to sell direct where possible — 2/3 of respondents reported that they either sell direct or mostly direct, and about 1/3 of the total vendor respondents report that they sell broadcast technology products through a third-party on an indirect basis.  Interestingly, these statistics are more or less the same for vendors of all sizes.

 

As a follow-up question, I asked vendors how they believe their sales approach will change in the future.  The results are show in the chart below. 

Question: How do you expect your sales mix to change in the future?

Vendors -- how sell in future

 

About half of all vendors surveyed expect to continue to with their current sales approach.  However, it’s clear that vendors do intend to beef up third party channel distribution channels, through both dealers and systems integrators. 

These results reinforce the findings presented in previous posts about where vendors see future growth and where they plan to open sales offices.  For example, the majority of broadcast technology vendors believe that China will be the fastest growing region in the next 2-3 years, an average of 20%, and yet China ranks last in terms of where vendors plan to open new offices. 

This indicates that as vendors look to expand geographically they will rely more heavily on 3rd party distributors and systems integrators to reach parts of the world where they do not have direct representation.

There is another factor that is undoubtedly contributing to an increased use of third party sales channels.  Broadcasters, who have shed technical staff in an effort to cut costs, seem to be increasing relying 3rd party firms such as systems integrators to help plan and then implement complex facility expansion plans.  In recognition of this, vendors must now sell to the end customer while courting the systems integrators who are bidding to win project work from broadcasters.

So while many vendors may prefer to sell direct (and plan to increase direct selling efforts in the future), there is no doubt that they must increasingly rely on dealers and SIs to reach a large part of the market.

Tags: , ,
No Comments »

Miranda announces Q2 results

broadcast technology market research, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Uncategorized | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 04 2009

Miranda posted their Q2 results today.  They had a 68% drop in quarterly profit and missed expectations of the analysts. 

Here’s the press release http://bit.ly/15IHg7.

Here’s an article from the Reuters news service about the results: http://bit.ly/Wb7RO.

To hear a replay of the earnings conference call dial +1-877-289-8525 and use access code 21310637#

Tags: , ,
No Comments »

Sales Expansion Plans for Broadcast Technology Vendors

broadcast industry technology trends, Broadcast technology channel strategy, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 03 2009

I recently started a series of posts about trends that are specific to broadcast technology vendors.  I started by looking at where broadcast technology vendors see the most sales growth coming from over the next 2-3 years.  My research shows that the majority of vendors think that China will be the fastest growing region in the next 2-3 years, an average of 20%, and this view is held by vendors across the world.

Now I am going to look at what vendors are actually planning to do in terms of their global sales coverage — with their own direct sales force.

As part of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey, I asked approximately 550 broadcast technology vendors about where they operate their own offices today and where they plan to open their own offices in the future.

 

Question: Which statement best captures your company’s direct sales situation in each region? Vendor Office Plans

 

Europe and North America lead the way in terms of the current location of vendor offices, with China close behind. 

China, which was ranked #1 by vendors in terms of potential growth over the next 2-3 years, ranks last in terms of where vendors plan to open new offices.  Instead it is that Middle East and Asia-Pac regions that are predicted to see the most vendor activity, in terms of office expansion, over the next 2-3 years.

So why are the same vendors who predict that their strongest growth will be in China not rushing to establish offices there? Possibly many vendors will use an office in Asia-Pac (e.g. Singapore or Hong Kong) as a base of activity for the entire region and will sell into China from there.  Also, China is an expensive place to operate with a dedicated staff, so perhaps smaller vendors are opting for a regional approach, which involves using established dealers, distributors and systems integrators to reach the Chinese market.

It is the Middle East region that is predicted to have the highest percentage of new vendor offices over the next 2-3 years.  As this market continues to grow, driven by the creation of government supported Media Cities, there is no doubt that the region will see increased spending in the area of broadcasting technology, and many vendors see this as the next logical step in their global expansion.

Tags: , , ,
No Comments »