Posts Tagged ‘3DTV’

Vizrt Posts 20% Revenue Growth in Q3, Sales Up 24% Year-to-Date

broadcast industry trends, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Quarterly Results | Posted by Joe Zaller
Nov 11 2010

Broadcast graphics and asset management provider Vizrt announced that its revenue for the third quarter of 2010 was $25.9m, an increase of 20% versus the same period a year ago and an increase of 7% versus the previous quarter.

Revenue from broadcast graphics for the quarter was $19.4m, an increase of 24% versus the same period a year ago, and an increase of 14% versus the previous quarter.

Media asset management (MAM) revenue was $4.6m, an increase of 11% versus last year, but a decrease of 8% versus last quarter.

Online and mobile revenue was $1.8m, up 10% versus last year and down 16% versus the previous quarter.

On a geographic basis, the company reported that it grew revenues in all regions:

  • EMEA revenue was $14.9m for the quarter, 58% of total revenue.  Sales in EMEA were up 22% versus last year and up 10% versus Q2
  • Americas revenue was $6.5m, 25% of total revenue.  Americas sales were up 13% versus last year but down 1% versus the previous quarter.
  • Revenue from APAC was $4.5m, 17% of total revenue.  APAC sales were up 24% versus last year and up 9% versus last quarter.

 

For the year-to-date, the company’s revenue was $73.8m, an increase of 24% versus the first nine months of 2009.  On a product-line basis, broadcast graphics accounted for 73% of revenue this year, while MAM and online contributing 19% and 8% respectively.

Company CEO Martin Burkhalter said that the company’s broadcast graphics products were widely used in the recent US mid-term election, and that “The fact that all these big players choose Vizrt for their special events coverage has a tremendous positive effect on our brand and supports our sales efforts across the globe.”

The company said that all regions have shown sales growth during the first nine months of the year.  The strongest performer has been the Americas, where revenue is up 32% versus the first nine months of 2009.  EMEA and APAC revenues were up 24% and 17% respectively for the first nine months of 2010 versus the same period last year.

In its presentation to investors and equity analysts, the company said that it strongly believes in the future of 3D broadcasting, which it sees a future growth driver. The company recently invested in Stergen Hi-Tech Ltd., a developer of 2D to stereoscopic 3D video conversion software, to help it bring 3D solutions to market.

The company used the presentation to highlight several other growth drivers for the company.  These include the need of broadcasters for multi-platform content delivery and integrated workflow solutions; the continual migration to HDTV; and projects for special events.

Burkhalter issued a relatively upbeat statement saying: “Based on our current results and our solid backlog, we believe, provided there are no substantial changes in the macroeconomic environment that we are well positioned to continue our growth path.”

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You can read the full Vizrt Q3 earnings announcement here.

The Vizrt Q3 presentation to investors and equity analysts is here

A write-up of Vizrt’s Q2 and 1H 2010 results is here.

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What are the Commercial Drivers for the Global Move to HDTV Operations?

broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Oct 13 2010

For the most part, large scale broadcast industry CapEx tends to be project-based.  Our most recent research into where money is being spent in the broadcast industry shows that the top two projects globally are “upgrading infrastructure for HD / 3Gbps operations” and “upgrading transmission and distribution capabilities,”  both of which are undoubtedly influenced by the move to HDTV.

As broadcasters migrate to HDTV operations much of the industry’s infrastructure is being replaced, making the move to HDTV a strong driver of broadcast industry CapEx. 

At a time when we are now several years into the HD transition, what continues to drive broadcasters to move to HDTV operations?  Are broadcasters moving to HD to for engineering reasons (e.g. delivering better image quality to viewers), or for commercial reasons (e.g. to remain competitive in the marketplace)?

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 was the most commercially important to their business over the next few years.

In order to better understand the drivers behind each trend, respondents were then asked a series of questions about the one industry trend that they indicated was most commercially important to their business – e.g. respondents who indicated that the transition to HDTV operations was the trend most important to their business were asked  why this is the case. 

The results are shown in the chart below:

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Q. Why the transition to HDTV operations the most important to your business?

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On a global basis the most important overall driver for the move to HD is simply completing the job.  In many parts of the world, broadcast professionals are now in the middle of multi-year complex HD migration projects, so this should not be too surprising.  

The second and third ranking factors cited by respondents as drivers for their transition to HDTV were delivering improved picture quality to viewers and the competitive demands of the market.  More engineering-oriented drivers such as taking a technology lead and future-proofing operations were seen by most respondents as much less important.

Like all data of this type, there are of course variations based on respondent demographics.  For example:

  • the competitive demands of the market were ranked as the most important HD driver for US broadcasters, while state funded broadcasters as well as those in Asia ranked completing the job as the their top driver
  • respondents from Australia, MEA and the UK cited more technology-oriented drivers (taking a technological lead in the market and future-proofing operations) than those from other areas where HD is perhaps more mature
  • broadcasters who derive most of their income from subscription revenues cited competitive demands of the market as their top driver for migrating to HD, while both commercial and state funded broadcasters said that completing the job was most important to them

 

Despite these differences, it’s clear that the key drivers for the move to HDTV are commercially oriented.   In today’s environment, the broadcast procurement process is usually based on carefully considered commercial factors, and often as part of a major planned project. 

As written previously, our research shows that the top priorities for the broadcast industry in 2010 include completing the transition to HD, achieving cost savings through operational efficiencies, and generating new revenue streams.  These projects all have a strong commercial justification, and will continue to drive a large share of the industry’s CapEx.

Interestingly, these results highlight why the buzz about some new technologies such as 3D has faded over time as potential buyers begin to appreciate the commercial issues associated with their deployment.  Indeed, many of those who commented on industry trends at the IBC 2010 exhibition commented that the market has become more realistic about 3D.

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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.

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Investment Bankers, Others Offer Post-IBC Assessment of Broadcast Technology Industry

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Broadcast Vendor M&A | Posted by Joe Zaller
Oct 01 2010

Quite a few people have written about their impressions of the IBC show, and given the huge scope of an event like IBC, each takes a slightly different approach depending on their perspective.  For example, here’s one from Murali Nemani at Cisco, another from David Grubb at Motorola, one from UK consultants MediaSmiths, and an announcement from industry guru Mark Schubin that he’ll be presenting a review of IBC on the 12th of October.  There’s even one from me.  

I always read all these articles, but it’s often the thoughts of non-technical industry observers that are the most interesting, because they focus on the business of the business and where it’s heading from a financial perspective.

For example, Silverwood Partners, a boutique investment bank that focuses on the media technology sector recently published their thoughts on the broadcast technology industry in a 19-page document called “IBC 2010 Post-Show Perspectives.”  Silverwood often publishes documents like this before and after major industry shows as a way to connect with broadcast technology vendors who may be looking for investment banking services.  You can read their pre-NAB 2010 document here, and their pre-IBC2010 document here.

From their point-of-view, Silverwood identifies the following as the key themes that emerged from the IBC show.

  • Industry environment improving
  • Intensifying focus on software
  • Large acquirers have substantial cash reserves
  • Focus on broader video use cases
  • Noticeable de‐emphasis of 3D
  • Concerns on sustainability of recovery
  • OTT – alternatives proliferating

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In the document, Silverwood discusses each of the above in the context of what is driving increased industry optimism; wider application of video technology (beyond broadcast and post production); what’s required to sell to other verticals; and an increased focus on software and MAM to solve complex workflow problems.

As one might expect from an investment bank who make their money through advising on transactions, Silverwood’s document has a few slides on industry M&A.  They contend that large companies have high cash balances, and that “alternative investments for cash are relatively unappealing.”  In other words the industry is changing radically and companies with cash should be using it for M&A in order to better position themselves for the future and buy growth.

They go on to illustrate the need for M&A by discussing how formerly profitable media businesses have been disrupted by market shifts and new technologies, and then graphically show the industry M&A activity from the past 12 months.

Whether you’re a broadcaster, technology vendor, content owner or distribution platform this is interesting stuff.

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You can read the full Silverwood IBC 2010 Post-Show Perspectives document here.

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Brief Impressions of IBC 2010

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Sep 22 2010

Last week I attended the 2010 IBC show in Amsterdam.  The product introductions and events at the show have been well covered elsewhere, so this is just a short note on my impressions of the show.

After spending the better part of a week in Amsterdam, and having 40-50 meetings with vendors, bankers, broadcasters and others, I came away from the show with three general impressions – the market is improving, there is more realism about 3D, and the drive toward file-based operations continues. 

It’s also worth noting that I think that these trends will probably act as a catalyst for further market consolidation as vendors seek to position themselves for the post-recession world.

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Improving Market Conditions

In terms of market improvement, many people I spoke with said that buyers were coming back and that once-delayed projects are now table. Many vendors reported that their sales and profitability have increased markedly versus a year ago.  Interestingly, there do seem to be geographic and technological differences in the market recovery.  For example, many people reported that activity in Asia, northern Europe and the middle east was strong; while southern Europe and parts of north America were still sluggish for some.  Also some types of products seem to have recovered more strongly – automation being a good case-in-point.

To get a better handle on the industry’s current status, I attended a very interesting “state of the industry” session hosted by the IABM (the international organization that represents technology suppliers), which was held on the opening day of IBC.  During the session, IABM director general Peter White presented the results of a recent survey of broadcast buyers and suppliers.  This was followed by a panel discussion that included representatives from Sony, Harris, Axon and Softel, with industry veteran Adrian Scott leading the session.

According to White, about 60% of broadcast technology suppliers are now making a profit – up considerably from last year – with European companies performing better in terms of profit performance. 

White also reported that confidence has returned to buyers, with more than half of those surveyed feeling “very or quite optimistic” about the future; and 39% reporting that they feel that the recession is over or that they are coming out of it.

However, White also indicated that things will be different for vendors in a post-recession world.  According to the IABM’s study, broadcast technology buyers are changing the way they purchase, and are also expecting more from vendors in terms of value, interoperability, support etc.

My understanding is that the IABM will be making their findings available in the near future, although I am not sure what for this will take.  It’s good information that everyone should read.

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More Realism About 3D

While 3D was a major theme of the IBC show, my feeling was that, in contrast to the CES and NAB shows earlier in the year, the hype about 3D seems to have dissipated as vendors have become more realistic about 3D’s ability to drive revenue and profitability growth.

In multiple press conferences and vendor meetings, the 3D hype was much toned down.  For example, at the Grass Valley press conference SVP Jeff Rosica referred to 3D as a niche market.  At the Harris press event, Broadcast Communications president Harris Morris referred to 3D projects as experiments.

I am on the record as a 3D skeptic, at least as far as the short term potential for broadcasters, so I was not surprised to hear this type of comments.  I should also point out that these comments are consistent with our market research findings about the most important trends in the broadcast industry, where 3D placed far down on the list versus the transition to HDTV, the move to file-based workflows and multi-platform content delivery. 

There is of course a small part of the market where 3D is and will continue to be a major growth driver.  However, it looks like the bulk of the market is now taking a more realistic approach and focusing on what customers really need.

For more on this subject, have a look at Mike Grotticelli’s article in Broadcast Engineering called 3-D Technology Finds Few Enthusiasts at IBC2010.

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IT and File-Based Technologies

It may seem obvious that IT and file-based technologies are continuing to make inroads into the broadcast market, but at IBC I was struck by the accelerating pace of change in this area.

Vendors, both large and small continue to innovate in this area in an effort to help broadcasters streamline their operations and do more with less.

The shift to IT technology is having an interesting impact on the industry, in the form of product development, M&A and outside investment.

On the product development front, some vendors have jumped into the file-based world with full force – e.g. Evertz who launched a full blown playout server and storage solution at IBC.

Others have sought to accelerate their move into the IT world through acquisition – e.g. Miranda’s purchase of OmniBus, which gives the traditional hardware supplier a highly developed IT-based playout and automation solution.  Another recent industry M&A deal between Telestream and Anystream helped Telestream consolidate its position in the encoding / transcoding / streaming space.  I would not be surprised to see more M&A in this area as traditional vendors seek to beef up their file-based expertise.

The move to IT has also helped bring new money into the industry.  For example two transcoding vendors, Elemental Technologies  and AmberFin both recently announced that they have closed funding rounds, which will help them expand their presence in the broadcast marketplace.

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Devoncroft Digest — July 30, 2010 – Earnings Season Continues, Grass Valley Finds a Buyer, More Broadcast Industry M&A, Harris Creates New Division, Elemental and Envivio Close Funding Rounds

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Devoncroft Digest, market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 30 2010

The Devoncroft Digest provides an overview of and insight into industry news items that I think might be interesting / important for readers and clients. 

Here are a few of the things that have caught my eye this week.

Earnings Season Continues

A number of broadcasters, TV platform operators and broadcast technology vendors announced their earnings this week. With one or two exceptions the results were generally positive.

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Broadcast Technology Vendor Earnings

Harmonic posted strong Q2 results.  The company’s revenue was up 18% versus the same period last year, and up 13% versus the previous quarter.  More importantly, the company’s net income of the quarter was $4.4m vs. a loss of $7.9m during the same period last year.

On the company’s earnings conference call and slide presentation Harmonic executives also discussed the pending acquisition of video server company Omneon, and provided a bit more information on Omneon’s business.  Omneon recorded bookings of $57.8m during the first half of 2010, a 19% y/y increase.  For the full year, Omneon is expected to have revenues of $120-$125m, with (non-GAAP) gross margins of 57-57% and (non-GAAP) operating margins of 6-7%.

The market seemed to like what Harmonic had to say.  On the day after the earnings announcement, Harmonic shares were up by almost 17%.

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Technicolor announced its results for the first half of 2010 this week, which saw revenues decline 18.5% versus the previous year.  The company achieved EBIT of €15m from “continuing operations,” but recorded an EBIT Loss of €109m from “discontinued operations.”  The company attributed this EBIT loss “mostly to Grass Valley,” which found a buyer this week after being for sale for more than a year (more on that below).  More information about Technicolor can be found in the slide presentation that the company used during its analyst earnings conference call. 

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Belden issued strong numbers for Q2, beating the expectation of equity analysts.  Driven by strong results from the Americas (which were up 27% y/y), the company’s revenues rose 24% versus the same period a year ago, and 6% versus the previous quarter.    The company issued an upbeat forecast and raised its guidance for the future.

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Audio (and now video) specialist Dolby Labs delivered strong results for its 3rd quarter.  The company’s revenues rose 34% versus the same period last year, and its net income increased by 25% versus Q3 2009.  Dolby which has been pushing aggressively into the 3D and Digital Cinema markets, recorded a non-cash impairment charge of $9.6 million in cost of revenue related to digital cinema systems provided under operating leases to exhibitors.

Separately, Dolby announced an additional $300m for its stock repurchase program, which has the objective of offsetting dilution from the company’s equity compensation programs.

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Cable technology vendor ARRIS announced its preliminary Q2 Results.  The company’s revenues were up slightly, but its net income and gross margins were both down.  Investors were unhappy with these results and sent the company’s shares down sharply.

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Leading set-top box vendor Pace announced strong results for the first half of 2010.  For the first six months of the year the company’s revenues rose by 21% and profit jumped by 46% versus the same period in 2009.  Separately, the company announced its intention to acquire 2Wire (see below).

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Broadcaster & Platform Operator Earnings

European satellite operator Eutelsat announced this week that it achieved a record year, and that its revenue and EBITDA growth both exceeded 11% versus 2009.  The company’s earnings press release that it now delivers 3,662 broadcast TV Channels, and that the number of HDTV channels had grown by 80% during 2010.

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Belo, one of the largest pure-play TV broadcasters in the US delivered strong results for its second quarter of 2010.  The company’s revenue for Q2 was up by 13% versus 2009, and its net income almost doubled.  Significantly the company’s revenue from the automobile sector was up by 51% and its digital (website) revenues grew by 14%. 

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US cable operator Comcast reported that its revenues increased by 6.1% in its second quarter of 2010/  The company’s operating income and cash flow were both up, but it lost 256,000 basic video subscribers.  The company, which is currently seeking approval to purchase NBC-Universal, disclosed that it spent a total of $59m on the deal during the quarter

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UK-based Virgin Media delivered strong results for its second quarter.  The company’s revenue, operating income and cash flow all increased. 

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Broadcast Industry M&A Continues

Multiple broadcast technology M&A deals were announced today:

  • Grass Valley is to be acquired by Francisco Partners, a private equity firm
  • Ross Video is buying Codan
  • Pace announced  proposed their acquisition of 2Wire

 

Francisco Partners has made a binding offer to buy 100% of the shares in Grass Valley. 

After more than a year on the block, and several rumored bids, Technicolor appears to have found a buyer for Grass Valley – a Private Equity firm called Francisco Partners.    According to Technicolor CFO Stephane Rougeot “This binding offer is a key step in the largest of the disposals we decided to make as part of the strategic refocus of our activity portfolio. This will clarify and solidify our financial profile. This is also positive news for Grass Valley Broadcast employees and customers who will benefit from the engagement of a new shareholder recognized as a leader in technology-based businesses.”

Francisco is buying all of Grass Valley, except for the transmission business, which is being retained by Technicolor.

Technicolor certainly did not get rich from this deal.  It paid $172m for Grass Valley in 2002, and then acquiring multiple companies (including Canopus for more than $100m) over the past few years, the company has now struck a deal with Francisco Partners which according to a Technicolor press release values Grass Valley at $100m.

After reviewing the structure of the deal, one industry insider told me that Grass Valley was sold at what one industry insider described to me a “fire sale.”  In fact it appears that no money will change hands, and that Technicolor will actually pay €20m to Grass Valley in order to fund “ongoing management of the activity.”

For its part, Francisco Partners will sign an $80m IOU, which carries capitalized interest of 5% per year.  This means that Francisco will not pay anything for Grass Valley for at least five years, and that Technicolor will make a large cash injection into the company to keep it going. 

Clearly Technicolor wanted to get rid of Grass Valley and its associated losses so it can focus on its now core business activities.  The only silver lining for Technicolor is that it has the right to “receive additional consideration from the buyer based on the potential future remuneration of the new owners of the disposed entity.”

Grass Valley announced the deal in a press release and a letter to customers.    The company has set up a deal-oriented website where information about the transaction has been published, and has also created an “Ask Jeff.” (as in Jeff Rosica, head of the Grass Valley Broadcast & Professional business) email address where questions about the deal can be sent directly to the company. According to Rosica, who was interviewed by industry website TVNewsCheck, it’s Business As Usual At Grass Valley.

Grass Valley is one of the industry’s great companies and I am sure that the people there are happy to finally have resolved their fate.  Let’s hope they can now focus on making great products – and of course money for their new owners.

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Ross Video Acquires Codan

Ross Video, which is best known for its production switchers and newsroom automation systems, announced that has it entered into a letter of intent to buy 100% of the shares of Codan Broadcast Products Pty Ltd. The sale, subject only to the finalization of due diligence, is scheduled for completion on 31 August, 2010.  The deal will expand the Ross portfolio by adding Codan’s product range of routing switchers, signal processing and audio monitoring.  It also strengthens Ross Video’s foothold in the important Australian broadcast market. This is the second Ross acquisition in the past two years. In 2009 Ross purchased Dutch graphics firm Media Refinery.  

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Pace to Acquire 2Wire

Leading set-top box vendor Pace plc announced its proposed $475m acquisition of 2Wire, a provider of residential gateways and associated software for the broadband service provider market.  According to the press release, 2Wire has established customer relationships in the tier one telco market, including AT&T, which has been a customer of 2Wire for 10 years and uses 2Wire solutions in its U-Verse platform.  2Wire is currently owned by a consortium including Alcatel-Lucent, AT&T, Telmex, and Oak Investment Partners.

Pace says that following the completion of the acquisition it will be the number one provider of telco residential gateway devices in the US and the number three globally.

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3D News – RealD Insiders Cash in on IPO

The Wall Street Journal reports that following on from their successful IPO, insiders at 3D firm RealD Insiders Made More Money in IPO than Company Did.  A skeptical Wall Street equity analyst is quoted in the article as saying that the only reason for the IPO was to generate liquidity for investors.

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Other Broadcast Technology Vendor News

Harris Creates New Division, Names Means GM

The changes continue at the broadcast communications division of Harris.  The company announced this week that it has created a new “Workflow, Infrastructure & Networking” (WIN) business unit, and named newly hired Doug Means as its General Manager.  According to the company’s press release, Means will lead the newly formed WIN business unit, which encompasses the Harris Broadcast infrastructure, networking, server, automation and asset management product portfolios. WIN was formed as part of an overall strategy to create scale, reduce organizational complexity and deliver more interoperable solutions to address the continually changing needs of Harris Broadcast customers.

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 Ross Video Appoints Nigel Spratling to Marketing Role

Production switcher specialist Ross Video has appointed industry veteran Nigel Spratling to a marketing role at the company.  Spratling was most recently the CEO of Echolab, which was forced to liquidate earlier this year when its primary shareholder pulled the plug.  The fate of Echolab is still undetermined, but I have been hearing rumours that Blackmagic Designs is set to announce that they have acquired the company’s assets. 

 

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Evertz Lands Big International Order

Canadian infrastructure vendor Evertz, which prides itself on not doing marketing, took the unusual step of issuing a short press release to announce the fact that the company has received orders in excess of C$7m from an unnamed international customer.   

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Elemental Closes $7.5m Funding Round

Video transcoding firm Elemental Technologies, which uses GPU processing announced that it has closed a $7.5 funding round, bringing the total VC money raised by Elemental to more than $14 million.  The round was led by Steamboat Ventures, with Voyager Capital and General Catalyst Partners also participating.  Interestingly, according to an SEC document filed by Elemental earlier this year,  the company had provisioned to raise up to $9m.  The company says it intends to use the capital to expand its business in the United States and internationally.   Transcoding is a tough business as evidenced by the recent sale of Ripcode (who had raised considerable financing) to RBG.  Perhaps Elemental’s unique GPU-based approach will enable the company to thrive – it gets pretty good reviews from broadcasters according to an article about Pitch Blue which appeared in Broadcasting & Cable magazine this week.

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Envivio Raises $15m

GigaOm property NewTeeVee reported this week that Envivio, another player in the video encoding / transcoding space,  has secured $15m in additional funding and shaken up its management team. 

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Other Platform Operator News

Ascent Media Hires 3 New VPs

Ascent Media has appointed three new vice-presidents for its media and digital services operations in Burbank, CA. 

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MobileTV News

The Wall Street Journal published an interesting article about the state of the mobileTV marketin the USA, which discusses Qualcomm’s Plans for FLO TV, the US broadcaster-backed Open Mobile Video Coalition and mobileTV operator MobiTV.  The WSJ’s finding?  The picture for mobile TV in the US is “fuzzy.”

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Other News

Broadcasting & Cable magazine’s Glen Dickson wrote an interesting article about the new HD file delivery platformsthat are being rolled out by Ascent Media and DG FastChannel. 

According to B&C, Pitch Blue, the new HD file delivery platform from Ascent Media and CBS is now delivering HD content to 1,350 US TV stations, while the new system from DG FastChannel has been deployed in 500 US TV stations.  The B&C article also highlights the need for transcoding systems in TV stations to convert these HD file to house formats.  As mentioned above, Elemental gets a good review from stations.    

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Market Research Note of the Week: Reliability Rankings of Broadcast Technology Vendors — The Top 30 Globally

Broadcast technology products are purchased by discerning customers for what are often mission-critical applications. Thus, the reliability of products is a paramount concern for buyers of these products.

To measure the rankings of the reliability of vendors, respondents were asked to rank broadcast technology vendor brands for “reliability” on a 10-point scale, with 10 being best in the market and one being worst in the market. The top 30 ranked brands are shown in the graph for the global sample of all respondents. There are a wide variety of vendors on this list, including large and small companies and those who produce audio and video products.

When reviewing these results it’s important to understand how many products are produced by each vendor on this list. This will help us to understand if reliability comes from small, focused companies or large, multiproduct vendors.

The 2010 BBS evaluated 27 separate product categories. As with the previously published top 30 quality rankings, single-product companies (those who were covered on only one product category in the 2010 BBS) dominate the rankings for reliability.

To read the full article, including a breakdown and analysis of the findings, click here.

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Devoncroft Digest July 24, 2010 – Earnings Season Begins, More Broadcast M+A (and an IPO), Echolab Rumors

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research, Devoncroft Digest, Top Broadcast Vendor Brands | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 24 2010

The Devoncroft Digest is a semi-regular amalgamation of news items I’ve seen recently.  Here are a few of the things that have caught my eye recently.

Earnings Season Kicks Off for Broadcasters and Broadcast Tech Vendors:

Quarterly earnings are starting to roll in from both broadcasters and broadcast technology vendors.  For those who are on an annual fiscal year, it’s a chance to see how the first half of the year went, and to hear management thoughts on the second half of 2010.

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Broadcast Technology Vendor Earnings:

Avid reported their numbers for the second quarter. Sales for the quarter were $162.2m, an 8% y/y increase – and the company pointed out that this was the first quarter of y/y growth for both audio and video since 1997.  The company’s shares jumped on the news.

While discussing uses of cash on the company’s earnings call, Avid executives talked about the amount of cash used for the Euphonix acquisition.  I was not aware of the purchase price for Euphonix, but it turns out that according to an SEC filing, Avid paid 17.6m for Euphonix, including cash of $12.6m and cash of $5m.

For more on Avid’s results, here’s a link to a transcript of Avid’s Q2 earnings call, and an article from Barrons about the results.   

Speaking of Avid, Post Magazine’s Jonathan Moser recently published an interesting Q&A with Avid COO Kirk Arnold about present & future status of the company.  In my opinion, both Arnold and CEO Gary Greenfield have done a good job recently with this type of interview.  One of Avid’s strengths is their user community and the company is clearly working to communicate with their base.  Here’s another example.

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Barco reported strong results for the company’s Q2 and first half of 2010.  In the earnings press release, company President & CEO Eric Van Zele said that Q210 “Must have been our best quarter ever.”  Van Zele also said that Barco is “experiencing explosive growth in demand for our digital cinema projectors and are working very hard to deal with the supply chain issues this creates.”

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Storage vendor Isilon also reported their Q2 numbers this week, and they were pretty good.  The company’s Q2 revenues of $45.1m represented increases of 15% q/q and 56% y/y respectively. The company also had positive net income in the quarter.  Shares jumped 18% on the news.  With Isilon apparently firing on all cylinders and Omneon now part of Harmonic, the storage space is going to be interesting to watch over the next year or so.

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IPTV provider KIT Digital published strong preliminary results for their Q2.  In an upbeat press release, the company said that its Q2 revenues of “at least $22.7m” were up by more than 110%.  The company also said that its EBITDA for the quarter would be at least $4 Million

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Broadcaster and Platform Operator Earnings:

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Broadcaster LIN TV reported 2Q revenues of 99.5m, which represents a 21% y/y increase.  The company’s earnings release highlighted the fact that digital revenues were up by 44% y/y, and that political revenues more than doubled versus last year.  Lin President and CEO Vincent Sadusky said: “Our results demonstrate continued, sustained improvement over 2009. Television advertising has experienced a strong recovery and our digital business, which now constitutes 15% of our total revenues, continues to grow and differentiate us as a local multimedia company.”

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According to industry website TVNewswCheck, The McGraw-Hill Companies reported that its Broadcasting Group’s revenue grew by 24% to $25.3 million in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. Increases in national, local and political advertising all contributed to the improved performance.  The company as a whole reported net income for the second quarter of 2010 increased by 16.4%, or $27.0 million, to $191.1 million. Revenue in the second quarter was up 0.6% to $1.5 billion.

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Media General reported that the company’s broadcast revenue rose 13% in the second quarter, driven by increases in automotive and political advertising (publishing revenues fell by 7%). The company’s digital revenues rose by 8% during the quarter.  The company issued upbeat guidance for its broadcast properties saying, that “Broadcast revenues in the third quarter are expected to increase more than 20 percent, mostly reflecting significant Political revenues.”

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Finally, DVD rental and streaming video provider Netflix reported its Q2 results this week.  Although the company’s subscriber, revenue and net income numbers all numbers increased, it was not enough for investors who were looking for higher sales revenues.  The stock tanked.

For more on Netflix, check out the take from website VideoNuze, who penned an interesting post called 5 Key Takeaways from Netflix’s Q2 ’10 Results.

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Broadcast M&A

Echolab Rumors Continue

Since Echolab was suddenly put into liquidation, there has been great speculation about what would happen to the company’s IPR – particularly the Atem production switcher line up.  Well if rumors are to be believed, Blackmagic Designs is set to announce that they have purchased the assets of Echolab.  This is information is not confirmed, but I have spoken to several people about it.  

As many know, Blackmagic made headlines earlier this year when they purchased color correction specialist Da Vinci.    Coincidentally, TVB Europe just published an article about how Blackmagic took Da Vinci’s $200,000+ products into a sub-$1,000 product for the Mac and kept all the functionality.   If this rumor is true, it will certainly be interesting to see what Blackmagic has in store for Echolab’s Atem product line.  Watch this space. 

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Vitec Multimedia (not to be confused with the Vitec Group) announced the purchase of the Focus Enhancements’ Systems Group.  In the press release announcing the deal, Philippe Wetzel, CEO of VITEC Multimedia said “In combination with our recent acquisition of Optibase, this acquisition furthers our objective to provide a complete line of advanced digital video solutions to our customers around the globe. With innovation at its core, the VITEC R&D division — now with more than 100 esteemed engineers — is uniquely positioned to deliver innovative solutions for a wide range of advanced digital video applications — managing the entire video process from source to display.

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Vizrt announced that it has completed the acquisition of Adactus by buying the additional 71% of the company that it did not already own

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Other Broadcast Technology Vendor News

Vizrt’s Chief Commercial Officer appears to have left the company.  According to a press release from online gaming firm 888, David Zerah has become the managing director of Dragonfish.  While at Vizrt Zerah spent seven years as EVP of worldwide sales before becoming CCO.  Vizrt has not yet announced a replacement.

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3D News

The official IBC blog had an interesting entry on 3DTV the other day, which says that 3D will probably only impact the industry in “small dimensions”.

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OTT Video News

As mentioned above, Netflix reported their Q2 revenues.

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NewTeeVee Reports that Redbox readying a streaming offering.  Streaming media expert Dan Rayburn says Redbox Won’t Challenge Netflix’s Streaming Service, Here’s Why

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Digital Cinema

According to the Wall Street Journal, Imax has signed an exclusive 2-year deal with privately held Laser Light Engines. The company says that the resulting laser-power projectors will deliver brighter images for digital cinema, which will be especially beneficial for 3D.

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3D News – RealD Goes Public

3D provider RealD went public this week in a $200m IPO, which raised 33% more than expected, a testament to the strong interest in all things 3D.  The company’s shares were up 22% on its first day as a public company.

The company’s 100+ page IPO documents are worth reading for an overview of the company’s financials as well as the state of the 3D and Digital Cinema Markets.  Files 100+ Page IPO Doc. Worth Reading for Financials and #3D Industry Overview. #3DTV #Broadcast http://bit.ly/bCanRM

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Market Research Note of the Week – Quality Rankings of Broadcast Technology Vendors

This article looks at how a global sample of several thousand broadcast professionals ranked broadcast technology vendors for one of the most important metrics for any technology company: quality.

The broadcast industry prides itself on the fidelity of its sound and images, so the perception of quality is a very important metric for broadcast technology vendors. Many vendors use quality as one of the key components of their market positioning.

To determine the market’s perception of the quality of broadcast technology vendors, respondents to the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey were asked to rank broadcast technology vendor brands for “quality” on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being best in the market and one being the worst.

As with the top 30 innovation rankings published earlier, this list contains a broad mix of vendors including both audio and video companies. There are also interesting similarities and differences in terms of the types of products produced, geographic location and company.

To read the full article, including analysis of the findings, click here http://bit.ly/cY2nZO

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Brief Thoughts on NAB 2010

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Apr 20 2010

Like thousands of others (some of whom are still there because of the Icelandic volcano), I spent last week at the NAB show in Las Vegas.  The events of the show have been well covered elsewhere, so this is just a short note on my impressions of the show.

After a week in Las Vegas and more than 40 meetings with vendors, bankers and broadcasters, my take-away from NAB was not about any one technology, company or product. Instead it was the general feeling that the tide has turned, and that things in the industry are starting to improve. 

Most vendors conceded that 2009 was less than stellar, but several companies such as Pilat Media, Ross Video, and Utah Scientific reported that they saw growth and made money in 2009. 

The question is whether 2010 will be better for the industry as a whole.  Many vendors I spoke to at NAB reported many projects did not go away, they just “moved to the right”, and that some projects which had been shelved are now back on the table.    In an industry where major projects drive product purchase, this is reassuring news for the battered supplier community.

Prior to NAB, and at many of the booths and press conferences during the show, the majority of attention seemed to be focused on 3D.  Yes there was a lot of 3D at the show, but as reported by Ken Kerschbaumer at the Sports Video Group, It Wasn’t All About 3D (Seriously!) As Exhibitors See Bounce in 2D Business.

As I have said previously, I am skeptical about 3D at least for the near term. Despite the hype, it’s just not that important commercially to most broadcast professionals.  My recent global study of the broadcast market found that the most important industry trends in the broadcast industry are about completing what’s already been started (transition to HDTV operations), cutting costs while creating efficiencies (file based / tapeless workflows), and creating new revenue streams (multi-platform content distribution).  If you look at the 2010 Global Broadcast Trend Index, you’ll see that 3D is near the bottom in terms of commercial important to broadcast professionals.

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The broadcaster’s view of technology trends

market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jun 23 2009

I’ve recently been looking at how broadcast technology trends vary by geographic region, based on the research data from the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey. The examples I have shown previously look at the differences in technology trends based solely on geography. 

Now it’s time to get a bit more granular and look at how just broadcasters view these technology trends, and whether there are regional variations in their opinions.   Approximately 1,400 broadcasters participated in the study.  Each was presented with a list of 15 industry trends and asked to choose the three trends from the list (ranking them 1-3) that they feel will have the most significant impact on the way they do business over the next 2-3 years.  The chart below shows their responses, which are weighted based on how they were ranked by the respondents.  If a trend was ranked most important, its weight=3; if a trend was ranked #2, its weight=2; and if a trend was ranked #3, it is weight=1.  

 

The broadcaster's view of industry trends by region

The broadcaster's view of industry trends by region

 

In general it appears that broadcasters around the world are roughly aligned in terms of overall opinion of technology trends, but there are a few regional variations. 

Just as with the overall market, the transition to HDTV and tapeless workflows are the top trends for broadcasters, followed by multiplatform delivery and file-based workflows.  Interestingly, broadcasters in EMEA rank the move to file-based workflows higher than their counterparts in the Americas and Asia, while ranking multi-platform content delivery lower.

Otherwise, it is broadcasters in Asia  who vary from their counterparts in the Americas and EMEA. 

For example, broadcasters in Asia rank the following trends differently than their counterparts in the Americas and EMEA (although some of these are still at the low end of the range):

* IP content delivery (lower)

* automated worflows higher (higher)

* 3DTV (higher)

* Set-top box PVR (higher)

* Network PVR (higher)

 

Once again, some of the trends that we often read about in the trade press — e.g. the transition to 3Gbps and 3DTV — are relatively far down the list of business priorities for broadcasters (#9 and #11 respectively), which implies that broadcasters are continuing to move to HDTV operations while striving for efficiency in their operations rather than pursuing new technology. 

 

Here’s the full list of technology trends from the study, in the order that they were ranked by the broadcasters:

  Broadcasters — Asia Broadcasters — Americas Broadcasters — EMEA
1 Transition to HDTV Transition to HDTV Transition to HDTV
2 Tapeless workflows Tapeless workflows Tapeless workflows
3 Automated workflows Multi-platform delivery File-based workflows
4 Multi-platform delivery File-based workflows Multi-platform delivery
5 File-based workflows IP content delivery IP content delivery
6 IP content delivery Automated workflows Automated workflows
7 Advanced encoding techniques (e.g. h.264) Advanced encoding techniques (e.g. h.264) Advanced encoding techniques (e.g. h.264)
8 Video on Demand Video on Demand Video on Demand
9 Transition to 3Gbps (1080p) Transition to 3Gbps (1080p) Transition to 3Gbps (1080p)
10 3D TV On-line advertising On-line advertising
11 Set-top box PVR/DVR 3D TV 3D TV
12 On-line advertising 4K production 2K production
13 Network DVR Set-top box PVR/DVR 4K production
14 4K production 2K production Set-top box PVR/DVR
15 2K production Network DVR Network DVR

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Regional Variation in Broadcast technology Trends — HDTV Still Top Trend

market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jun 22 2009

In a previous post about broadcast  industry trends, I looked at at a ranking of top trends in the broadcast industry and made the comment that there  is considerable variation in response when you segment data by geography and customer type.  One of the really interesting things about the data in the 2009 BBS is that is can be sliced and diced in many ways, thereby providing insight through granular analysis. 

Here’s an example of how trends can vary by geographic region:

2009 BBS trends -- regional variations

 This chart shows responses to the same question as the previous post — i.e.  ”please choose from this list the top three trends that will most affect the way your company does business over the next 2-3 years” — from the point of view of people in different geographies.  Once again, a simple weighting formula was used to generate these rankings – if  a technology was ranked 1st (weight=3), 2nd (weight=2) or 3rd(weight=1).  This was done to illustrate the relative importance of  each technology trend to the respondent.  The trends in this chart are then expressed as a percentage of the total weighted votes.  As you can see, there are some interesting differences between the views of respondents in the Americas, EMEA and Asia.

While the transition to HDTV is still the top trend for all three geographies, there are differences in how important this trend is to the businesses of the respondents.  In the Americas, the transition to HDTV scores 23.79%; in EMEA is scores 21.92% and in Asia is scores 17.36%.  There are similar difference in the scores of the “file-based workflows” question.  This trend appears significantly more important to Europeans than it is to Americas and especially to respondents in Asia.

 A couple more observations:

  • Transition to HD and tapeless workflows are the top two trends in all three regions — despite the variations in importance of these trends relative to one another
  • Some of the trends that are in the news these days — e.g. transition to 3Gbps and 3DTV did not score particularly high.  Perhaps the reason we read about these trends in trade publications is that this vendors want to push the next new thing, while their customers want to complete the transition (to HD or tapeless for example) that they are in the middle of now, rather than worrying about the next new thing.
  • A few of the more “advanced” trends (multi-platform content delivery, 3D TV) scored higher in Asia than they did in the Americas or EMEA

Here’s the full list of the 15 trends from the study, ranked in order for each region.

       EMEA Americas Asia
1      Transition to HDTV Transition to HDTV Transition to HDTV
2      Tapeless Workflows Tapeless workflows Tapeless Workflows
3      File-based workflows IP content delivery Multi-platform content delivery
4      IP content delivery File-based workflows IP content delivery
5      Multi-platform content delivery Multi-platform content delivery Automated workflows
6      Automated workflows Video on Demand Advanced encoding techniques
7      Advanced encoding techniques Automated workflows Video on Demand
8      Video on Demand Advanced encoding techniques 3D TV
9      Transition to 3Gbps Transition to 3Gbps File-based workflows
10     On-line advertising On-line advertising Transition to 3Gbps
11     2K production 3D TV Set-top box PVR/DVR
12     4K production 2K production 2K production
13     Set-top box PVR/DVR 4K production On-line advertising
14     3D TV Set-top box PVR/DVR Network DVR
15     Network DVR Network DVR 4K production 

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