Posts Tagged ‘Big Broadcast Survey’

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 »

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 »

Where do broadcast technology vendors see sales growth over next 2-3 years?

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 30 2009

In previous posts, I’ve looked at technology trends in the broadcast industry from the point of view of both broadcasters and vendors, including how an analysis of broadcast industry technology trends shows that vendors and broadcasters do not always have the same commercial interests.

As part of the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey, I have also studied trends that are specific to broadcast technology vendors.  For example: where do broadcast technology vendors sell products today;  how do they see their geographic sales mix changing over time;  where they plan to open new sales offices in order to capitalize on future growth potential; and what they would like to improve in their organizations by ranking a list of eight potential issues. 

Nearly 550 broadcast technology vendors responded to these questions, and my next couple of posts will look at these findings. To start, let’s look at where vendors think they will see the most sales growth over the next 2-3 years.

I asked vendors to choose the geographic territory where they think will see the most growth over the next 2-3 years.  The results are summarized in the table below:

Question: Which territories do you think will see the most sales growth over the next 2-3 years – in percentage terms?

Vendor Market Growth Expectations

The vast majority of vendors believe that China will be the fastest growing region in the next 2-3 years, an average of 20%.  This view is held by vendors across the world.

Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America are also expected to grow strongly, each by an average of 13-14%.  Although less developed, the Middle East and Latin America are expected to grow by less (an average of 10%).  The least developed region, Africa, is considered to be the territory with the least potential for growth (an average of only 6% in

Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America are also expected to grow strongly, each by an average of 13-14%.  Although less developed, the Middle East and Latin America are expected to grow by less (an average of 10%).  The least developed region, Africa, is considered to be the territory with the least potential for growth (an average of only 6% in the next few years).

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Tags: , , , , ,
No Comments »

Let the broadcaster beware…. Business interests of broadcasters not always aligned with those of vendors

market research, technology trends | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 14 2009

I have written several times about technology trends in the broadcast industry, including a look at how trends vary by geographic region, and what technology trends are most important to broadcasters.   Having done this, I decided to look more deeply at the trends that are the most important to broadcasters, and then compare this to others in the supply chain. What I found is that there are important differences between the business interests of technology suppliers (vendors and SIs) and technology buyers (broadcasters).

To get this data, I presented the nearly 5,000 people who responded to the Big Broadcast Survey (BBS) with a list of 15 industry trends and asked to choose 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. Because this question is about what’s important to the business of the respondents, it reveals much about their motivations. 

The results, which are summarized in the chart below, show that the commercial motivations of those supplying technology (vendors and systems integrators) are not always aligned with technology buyers (broadcasters).

 Question: Please rank in order (1-3) which of the following technology trends are most important to your business, with 1 being most important

Trends -- Broadcasters vs Vendors & SIs

 

Here’s a quick round-up of the differences between what’s important to technology buyers versus technology suppliers:

More Important to Technology Buyers (Broadcasters):

  • Transition to HDTV operations
  • Transition to tapeless workflows
  • Automated workflows
  • File-based workflows
  • Multiplatform delivery

 

More Important to Technology Suppliers (Vendors and Sis):

  • IP content delivery
  • Advanced encoding techniques (e.g. h.264)
  • Video on Demand
  • Transition to 3Gbps operations (1080p)
  • On-line advertising
  • 3D TV
  • Set-top box PVR/DVR
  • 4K production
  • Network DVR
  • 2K production

 

Looking at this, it seems to me that:

  • the trends that are most important to broadcasters are about finishing what they started and making it work in practice (transition to HD), becoming more efficient (tapeless, file-based, automated workflows) and increasing revenues (multi-platform content delivery)
  • the trends that are most important to technology suppliers are about new technology

 

Let’s look at this in another way… The table below depicts this, expressed as the difference between the average for each respondent group and the overall global average.  As you can see there are some major differences between broadcasters and their suppliers, particularly when it comes to transition to HDTV, tapeless workflows, automated workflows and the transition to 3Gbps:

Trend Variation -- between broadcastes and vendors

Broadcasters believe that refining workflows and gaining efficiencies, particularly through digital file management, is very important to their business, whereas vendors and systems integrators place more importance on next generation technologies such as 3Gbps operations.  Similarly broadcasters do not currently view IP content delivery as a stand out issue, whereas vendors and systems integrators believe this is to be the second most important trend influencing their business.

These findings are in-line with what Roger Crumpton of the IABM said at their market workshop recently — i.e. that broadcasters in today’s climate are focusing on completing existing projects (e.g. HDTV transition) and increasingly risk averse when it comes to new technology unless it can make them more efficient in some way (e.g. automated workflows).

So what does all this mean?   If a technology suppliers can more fully understand what’s most important to their customers they will have a better change of success, but only if they listen to what their customer is telling them and adjust their sales approach accordingly.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
2 Comments »

HDTV… just a “pause” on the path to transition to IT-based broadcasting?

Uncategorized | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 13 2009

I had an interesting conversation recently with a broadcast technology vendor about how the transition to HDTV has impacted the move to IT-based broadcasting.

Their proposition was this:

Before the move to HDTV really took off, the broadcast industry was moving towards IT / file-based workflows.  Then a variety of  external structural forces (e.g. government intervention, analog switch-off etc) caused it to change course and focus on the transition to HD.

This caused the industry’s focus shifted away from IT / software-based systems and back towards hardware, which was better able to handle the increased data rates of HDTV.   This was good news for traditional hardware vendors, many of whom saw big spikes in their businesses, and some of whom managed to go public on the back of this trend.

Fast forward to today.  The transition to HD is well underway, and completed in many areas.  Broadcasters who have made the move to HD are now are looking for ways to increase their efficiencies, and do more with less.   At the same time, IT-based systems have made tremendous strides, and have in many cases caught up with hardware systems. 

So, this vendor concluded, we’re at a major industry inflection point, and the next transition in the broadcast industry will be driven by software, not hardware.

If this vendor is right, (and they very well may be), it’s going to be an interesting time for the hardware-oriented vendors who don’t have fully-fledged IT-based solutions that deliver what today’s customers want — the ability to do more with less, the promise of greater efficiencies, and above all a way to increase revenues.  It’s doubtful that “traditional” vendors will go away, but it’s likely that we will see new leaders emerge, along with an increase in M&A activity.

Tags: , , , ,
No Comments »