Archive for the ‘content delivery’ Category

Where is Money Being Spent in the Broadcast Industry in 2011? The 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Project Index.

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, content delivery, market research, technology trends | Posted by Joe Zaller
Apr 07 2011

 

This is the third in a series of articles about some of the findings from the 2011 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), a global study of broadcast industry trends, technology purchasing plans, and benchmarking of broadcast technology vendor brands.  More than 8,000 people in 100+ countries took part in the 2011 BBS, making it the largest and most comprehensive market study ever done in the broadcast industry.

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In previous articles, I’ve written about the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index, which shows the most important trends in the broadcast industry for 2011.  As a follow-up I wrote about how the commercial importance of these trends has changed over time.

Tracking broadcast industry trends is important because it provides insight into which areas are receiving the most attention from technology buyers.  However, it’s important to note that industry trends are a reflection of what customers are thinking and talking about, not necessarily where they are spending money today.

Indeed, the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index includes a mix of current and future commercial priorities, some of which broadcasters have not yet determined how to implement. Thus, while trends are important they do not necessarily translate into where broadcast technology buyers will be spending their budgets in 2011 and 2012. 

Technology spending in the broadcast industry tends to be project-based. Projects might include international elections and sporting championships, to the long-term planned capital upgrades of broadcast infrastructure and facilities.  Thus, an understanding of the major projects being implemented by broadcaster professionals around the world provides useful insight into the capital expenditure plans of the industry.

We presented broadcast professionals with a list of major projects and asked them to indicate which ones they are currently implementing or have planned / budgeted to implement in the next year.  Their responses were then used to create the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Project Index, which is shown below. 

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One look at the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Project Index illustrates the difference between what people are thinking and talking about (trends), and where they are planning to spend their budgets (projects). Although “multi-platform content delivery” dominated the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index, the corresponding project “distribute and monetize content on multiple distribution platforms,” ranked #9 out of 15 in the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Project Index.

By a significant margin, more broadcast technology buyers said that they are budgeting for “upgrading infrastructure for HD/ 3Gbps operations” than any other project.  Upgrading infrastructure for HD / 3Gbps operations was also the dominant planned project in the 2010 BBS. 

This project correlates directly with “transition to HDTV operations,” which was ranked #2 in the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index.

The projects ranked 3rd, 5th and 6th – upgrading transmission & distribution capabilities; building new studios / OB vans; and launching new channels – are also related to the transition to HDTV operations, as these transmission upgrades, new studios, and new channels will almost certainly be at least HD capable, if not fully HD.

Many of the other top ranked projects are related to the file-based / tapeless workflow, which ranked #3 in the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index. For example, many respondents indicated that they planning workflow / asset-management; archive-related; and automation projects.

The rest of the list offers a mixed picture of project activity across the world, and includes everything from upgrading audio and newsrooms to multi-platform distribution being chosen in large numbers. 

As mentioned earlier, multi-platform content delivery ranked #9 in the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Project Index.  Despite the importance to organizations of monetizing content on multiple distribution platforms, it appears many broadcast professionals have not solidified their business plans in this area.  This likely means that there will be significant opportunities in the future for broadcast technology vendors who offer a suite of products for multi-platform content delivery.  The current excitement surrounding OTT video, connected TV, and mobile DTV is evidence of this, but these initiatives represent a relatively small proportion of the money being spent on broadcasting technology in 2011.

Interestingly, despite the fact that they may have the potential to deliver increased efficiencies and new revenue streams, there are several major projects that appear towards the bottom of this list. The two most obvious instances are the low ranking of “consolidate operations in regional hubs (centralcasting), and “outsourced operations (playout),” which are the bottom two projects on this list. This is because although these are high value projects, they will be undertaken by a relatively small number of organizations — i.e. large broadcasters.  This highlights that the 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Project Index is a graphic representation of the number of all planned projects across all respondents, regardless of organization type, size, or location.  It does not measure size, value, or relative commercial importance of planned projects.  Please keep this in mind when reading this information and interpreting these findings.

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Keep in mind when reading this information that all data in this article measures the responses of all non-vendor participants in the 2011 BBS, regardless of organization type, organization size, job title or geographic location.  Responses of individual organization types or geographic locations may be very different than those shown in this high level overview.  Granular analysis of these results is available as part of the full 2011 BBS Global Market Report. For more information about this report, please contact Devoncroft Partners.

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Related Content:

You can find out about the 2011 Big Broadcast Survey here.

The 2011 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index is here.

The 2010 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index is here.

The 2009 BBS Broadcast Industry Global Trend Index is here.

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This article is based on the findings from the 2011 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), a global study of industry trends, technology purchasing behavior and the opinion of vendor brands.  With more than 8,000 people in 100+ countries participating, the 2011 BBS is the largest and most comprehensive market study ever done in the broadcast industry.

Devoncroft Partners has published a variety of reports from 2011 BBS data.  For more information, please get in touch.

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©Devoncroft Partners 2009-2011

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The Commercial Drivers for Multi-Platform Content Distribution in the Broadcast Industry

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, content delivery | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jan 13 2011

This is the third in a series of occasional articles about the commercial drivers behind some of the most important trends in the broadcast industry.

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As part of the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey, we asked a global sample of more than 5,600 broadcast professionals about the most important trends in the broadcast industry.  Respondents were presented with a series of industry trends, and asked to indicate which one is the “most important” commercially to their business over the next few years, which one is “second most important” commercially important to their business over the next few years, and which others are “also very important.” 

These results were then weighted to create the 2010 BBS Trends Index, which is shown in the table below.

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By a wide margin, the top three places in the 2010 BBS Global Trend Index were multi-platform content delivery; file-based / tapeless workflows; and the transition to HDTV operations.

This article looks at the commercial drivers behind the top trend in the 2010 BBS Trend Index, multi-platform content delivery, and sheds light on why multi-platform content delivery is important to broadcast professionals world-wide. 

If interested, you can also read previous articles about commercial drivers for the global move to HDTV operations, and the commercial drivers for the global move to file-based operations.

In order to understand why, we asked respondents who said multi-platform content delivery the trend that’s most commercially important to their business a series of questions, including the reasons why, which vendors they feel are best positioned to provide solutions to their needs, and what obstacles they think might prevent them from achieving their goals.

As shown in the chart below, the top two reasons cited by most 2010 BBS respondents for the commercial importance of multi-platform content delivery is to provide potential new revenue streams and to ensure that branded content is available on all distribution platforms.

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These results were fairly consistent across the respondent base, with 77% of respondents falling into one of these two categories.  However there were a few notable exceptions. 

There was a marked contrast in the responses from pay TV broadcasters versus license fee funded broadcasters.  Pay TV providers were overwhelmingly concerned with new revenue streams, while public broadcasters were interested primarily in making sure their branded content is available on all distribution platforms.

Second only to pay TV providers, respondents from the government / education / corporate sectors were also very interested in having their content available on all platforms

Other differences were more subtle.   Respondents from EMEA were slightly more interested having their branded content on all platforms, than were respondents from the Americas who were more interested in generating new revenue streams.

Participants in the China and the Middle East and Africa were more interested in gaining a competitive advantage than respondents from other regions.

When considering the responses of broadcasters (shown on the far right of the above chart), most seem to agree that the generating new revenue streams is the most important reason for moving to a multi-platform distribution model.  Interestingly the smallest broadcasters see the need to have their content widely available on all platforms is more important than new revenue stream.

If you are interested in a more comprehensive breakdown of these results, please contact Devoncroft Partners for more information.  

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This article is based on the findings from the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), a global study of industry trends, technology purchasing behavior and the opinion of vendor brands.  With more than 5,600 people in 120+ countries participating, the 2010 version of the BBS is the largest and most comprehensive market study ever done in the broadcast industry.

The 2011 Big Broadcast Survey will be published in the first quarter of 2011, and will provide an updated view of these findings as well as a year-over-year comparison.

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Media General Launches Mobile DTV Service in Columbus, OH

broadcast industry trends, content delivery | Posted by Joe Zaller
Sep 29 2010

US broadcast station group Media General announced today that WCMH, its Columbus Ohio NBC affiliate, is the company’s first station to launch a mobile DTV service.

Company president and CEO Marshall Morton said that mobile DTV will enable the company to extend its reach and deliver content to viewers, when, where and how they want it.  Morton also said that the company is looking forward to “launching Mobile DTV in as many as 5-7 additional television markets in the coming months.”

WCMH is apparently starting with a simulcast of its primary channel, but according to a press release it “expects to provide unique graphics for the mobile stream and allow for spot advertising insertions much like cable systems do today.”

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You can read the full Media General announcement here.

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DG FastChannel Reports Record Q2

broadcast industry trends, Broadcast technology vendor financials, content delivery | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 04 2010

Advertising and broadcast content delivery specialist DG FastChannel reported record results for its FY2010 second quarter today, blowing past the expectations of equity analysts. 

Revenue for the quarter was $60.3m, well ahead of the $55.6m consensus estimate of equity analysts.  This represents a 38% revenue increase versus the same period a year ago, and an increase of 11% from the previous quarter.  Net income for the quarter was $9m, up 150% increase versus Q2 2009 and up 12.5% versus the previous quarter.

Significantly, the company’s revenue from the delivery of HD advertising content increased 99% to $23.9 million versus the same period of 2009.

The company also that it retired all of its outstanding debt, thanks to a recent public equity offering that raised net proceeds of approximately $108m. As a result of this offering, the company reported that as of June 30, 2010, it has $79.6 million in cash and no debt.

Company Chairman & CEO Scott Ginsburg said “The Company continues to execute on its strategic business plan… revenue, margins, earnings and net debt show marked improvements during the second quarter.”

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Impressions of CES 2010 — 3D and ATSC Mobile DTV

broadcast industry technology trends, content delivery, technology trends | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jan 12 2010

Last week I made my annual winter pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the 2010 CES exhibition.

Walking the crowded show floor was like being inside of a giant Best Buy with 100,000+ other people. 

I spent most of my time at CES at the conference, and I have mixed feelings about the sessions I attended. While there were some quite good panels — particularly in the USC Emerging Tech and the excellent Arlen / Greenwald “UpNext” tracks — I found many of the sessions to be disappointing. Many sessions were long on commercial plugs and short on new information.  I also found the multiple concurrent sessions difficult to navigate, something that was not helped by CEA’s show guide / conference program, which was poorly laid out and confusing.

As most know by now, the big topics at CES were 3D, think TVs, mobile broadcasting and making money (or  not) from online content.

3D was everywhere at the show, and there have been countless reports of how many companies are betting their future on 3D.   In many of conference sessions, panelists expressed optimism for 3D — tech vendors talked about how they will have the products available, while broadcasters & content owners talked about the amount of 3D content they are going to produce / broadcast.  Personally I am skeptical about near-term consumer take-up of 3D.  Consumers who have recently upgraded to HD are unlikely to re-up for 3D any time soon, and even my early-adopter friends have said they are unlikely to put on 3D glasses to watch sports or movies.  Time will tell, and I am sure we will all be hearing much about 3D between now and the NAB show in April.

Other than they hype surrounding 3D the most interesting aspect of CES for me was a small group of booths that were showing off ATSC mobile DTV broadcasting.  US broadcasters are serious about mobile, and they were there in force along with some well established (Harris, LG) and new technology vendors.  According to several of the broadcasters and exhibitors I spoke with, there are already 30 broadcasters on the air with mobile ATSC DTV. 

More significantly according to these sources however, is that there are 200+ more local broadcasters who are planning to launch a mobile service in the near future.  These broadcasters have already spent a significant amount of money to convert to DTV, and the incremental cost to also broadcast to mobile is very small (the maximum number I heard was $150,000, with many broadcasters saying they could do it for much less).

This low cost of entry, combined with a potential of new revenue as well as the political controversy about use of spectrum is sure to make ATSC mobile DTV one of the major topics at NAB this year.  Whereas 3D is a future possibility for broadcasters, it seems to me that ATSC mobile DTV is going to happen in the near term. Broadcasters such as Sinclair, ION and others are absolutely committed to the technology, and there are many vendors on board — with more undoubtedly to follow — despite the fact that there are very few receivers and even fewer viewers at this time. 

It remains to be seen whether ATSC mobile DTV can be developed into a viable commercial offering, but this will not stop a great deal of hardware and software being sold to US broadcasters.  The barriers to entry are low (in terms of incremental cost), and the potential political victory with regard to spectrum, not to mention a new potential revenue stream practically guarantees that ATSC mobile DTV  will be coming soon to a local broadcaster near you.

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Broadcasters see streaming / broadband as fastest growing content delivery method

content delivery, market research, technology trends | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jun 24 2009

Almost as soon as I uploaded the post which-method-of-content-delivery-will-grow-the-fastest?  I started to wonder what broadcasters themselves think about this question.  To find out, I ran a query on the data from the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey, and compiled the results in the chart below.

This represents how 1000+ broadcasters around the world answered this question: 

 ”Which of these delivery methods do you think will grow the fastest over the next three years, in percentage terms?”

  • WiMAX
  • Terrestrial
  • Cable
  • Downloads to mobile devices
  • Satellite
  • Mobile TV
  • IPTV
  • Broadband / Streaming (web TV)

 

 #1 by a good margin is broadband / streaming, followed by IPTV and mobile TV. 

 

The fastest growing content delivery methods according to broadcasters

The fastest growing content delivery methods according to broadcasters

 

These top three choices get 72% of the vote from broadcasters on this question.  That’s pretty interesting since these are potentially competitive (and certainly disruptive) to the broadcaster’s traditional business model.

Does this means that broadcasters are predicting their own demise, or does this acknowlement of the  growth of new content delivery methods mean they will embrace them and tap into the new ways of doing business?

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Which method of content delivery will grow the fastest?

content delivery, market research, technology trends | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jun 24 2009

It’s not news that the delivery of video content is changing dramatically.  Consumers want an anywhere, anytime media experience; and content owners are doing all they can to meet their needs.   But with so many choices now available, I was curious to know which delivery method broadcast industry insiders think will grow the fastest.

To find out, I included the following question in the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey:

 ”Which of these delivery methods do you think will grow the fastest over the next three years, in percentage terms?”

  • WiMAX
  • Terrestrial
  • Cable
  • Downloads to mobile devices
  • Satellite
  • Mobile TV
  • IPTV
  • Broadband / Streaming (web TV)

 

Almost 5000 people in 110 countries responded and their answers are shown below, broken down by geography to show regional variation:

 

Which method of content delivery do you think will grow the fastest over the next three years, in percentage terms?

Which method of content delivery do you think will grow the fastest over the next three years, in percentage terms?

 

Keep in mind that this question asked which delivery method will grow the fastest, not which one do you think will win in the long-term, or which one are you willing to pay $50 per month for.  It also asked about growth in percentage terms, so if a distribution method is small today it can grow quickly in percentage terms from a small base, while it’s much more difficult for established content delivery methods such as cable & satellite to grow in percentage terms.

Nevertheless, the respondents expect to see major changes in content delivery methods over the next three years, led by “Broadband / Streaming.”    In fact, with the exception of Asia, all geographies expect broadband / streaming delivery of content to be the fastest growing delivery methods, which is interesting news for CDNs.  In Asia (excluding China), IPTV is predicted to be the fastest growing content delivery medium.  All territories therefore expect the current incumbents (satellite, cable and terrestrial) to lose market share to the internet and to a lesser extent, mobile.

Although the picture is relatively similar across all geographical regions, there are a few key differences, reflecting the relative maturity of each market.  For example, in most markets satellite is already a well-established channel with limited future growth; however in China the picture is different with expected growth being second only to broadband / streaming content delivery.  Chinese respondents also predict the largest take-up of mobile TV.

That’s what broadcast industry insiders think.  What about you?

 
 

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