Posts Tagged ‘Broadcast Automation’

Ranking Broadcast Technology Vendors Part 3 – the 2011 BBS Brand Opinion Leaders League Table

broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 16 2011

This is the sixth 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.

 

Each year, as part of the Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), we ask broadcast professionals worldwide to rank a variety of technology vendor brands on a wide range of metrics.  We use this information to create a series of reports, which through benchmarking and industry “league tables” enable each vendors to understand its position in the market relative to their the industry as a whole as well as their direct competitors.

In previous articles we wrote about the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table, and the 2011 BBS Net Change in Overall Opinion League Table, which shows how our global sample of broadcast professionals ranked 118 broadcast vendor brands in terms of their overall opinion of these vendors, and also how their opinions have changed over time.

It’s obviously great news for the vendors who are listed in these rankings, and there were quite a few of them.  A total of 43 brands were listed in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table; and a total of 51 brands were listed in the 2011 BBS Net Change of Brand Opinion League Table.

This post looks at the companies that were listed in both the Overall Opinion and Net Change in Overall Opinion Rankings. In other words, these are the companies whose brands are held in high regard today, and who are perceived to be getting better over time.

Just 30 brands (out of 118) were listed in both sets of rankings, either globally or regionally.

These are shown below.

Please note that these results are shown in alphabetical order, NOT in the order in which they were ranked in the study. 

 

2011 BBS Brand Opinion Leaders League Table:

 

There are a wide variety of companies on this list, including large and small firms; single product and multi-product firms; global and regional players; and audio and video technology providers.

What they have in common is strong brand recognition, and a dynamism that 2011 BBS respondents feel is making them even stronger.

Let’s look specifically at the how these companies and their products were ranked in the 2011 BBS, beginning with products and technology.

As shown in the chart below, these companies make products in 24 of the 26 product categories that we covered in the 2011 BBS.

The top products for brand leaders are split between audio and video – microphones and video editing.

 .

2011 BBS Brand Opinion Leaders League Table — Frequency of Product Categories:

.

So is it possible that brand leadership can be predicted by the type of product that an organization produces? Interestingly this list is split fairly evenly between audio and video companies.  There’s also a healthy mix of hardware versus software.

What about the number of products that a vendor offers. Larger companies offer more products and are consequently used in more places than their smaller counterparts.  Let’s look at the number of product categories that each of these brands produces (as defined by the segmentation used in the 2011 BBS).

The table below shows the number of 2011 BBS product categories produced by each brand.

 .

2011 BBS Brand Opinion Leaders League Table — Number of 2011 BBS Product Categories per Brand:

 .

While there are several brands on this list that appear in many product categories, the vast majority produce only one or two types of products.  Indeed out of the thirty brands in this table, nearly 2/3 appear only once.

Keep in mind that companies who produce only one type of product are not necessarily small.  There are some very large companies on the list above who appear in just one 2011 BBS category.

It turns out that to fully understand what drives brand opinion and brand leadership, one needs to look at the factors that drive and influence these perceptions.  This includes the company’s reputation for things like innovation, reliability, quality, value and great customer service.

We’ll be looking at each of these factors in future articles, so stay tuned.

Please keep in mind when reviewing this information that all data these charts are presented in alphabetical order, not in the order brands were ranked by respondents to the 2011 BBS.  Also, the charts in this posting measure the responses of all non-vendor participants in the 2011 BBS respondents, regardless of their company type, company size, geographic location, job title and budget for broadcast technology products.  Finally please note that this study evaluated a total of 118 brands.

 

In order to get full value from this data, it is necessary to evaluate these results on a granular basis.  If you would like more information, please contact Devoncroft Partners.

 .

.

 

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.

 

Related Content:

Ranking Broadcast Technology Vendors Part 2 – the 2011 BBS Net Change in Overall Brand Opinion League Table

Ranking Broadcast Technology Vendors Part 1 – the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table

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

Tracking Changes in Broadcast Industry Trends — 2011 Versus 2010

Broadcast Industry’s Most Comprehensive Market Study Reveals Top Trends of 2011

More Information About the 2011 Big Broadcast Survey from Devoncroft Partners

.

.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

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.

 .

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. 

.

.

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.

.

.

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.

.

.

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.

.

.

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.

.

.

©Devoncroft Partners 2009-2011

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

The 2011 Big Broadcast Survey – Now Available

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, Broadcast technology channel strategy, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research, Top Broadcast Vendor Brands | Posted by Joe Zaller
Mar 10 2011

After many months of work, I am pleased to announce that the 2011 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS) has been completed, and that reports from the study will be published soon.

If you’re not familiar with the BBS, it’s an annual demand-side study of the global broadcast industry. BBS reports help readers improve their strategic decision making, customer engagement, marketing strategy, product planning, and sales execution.

More than 8,000 broadcast professionals in 100+ countries participated in the 2011 BBS, making it by far the largest and most comprehensive market study of the broadcast industry.

Three types of reports are available:

  • The BBS Global Market Report is the broadcast industry’s first global demand-based study of the purchasing habits of technology buyers.  This report examines industry trends, major projects being planned, products being evaluated for purchase, current and future plant infrastructure and operational structure, broadcast technology budgets, and HD upgrade plans for a wide variety of products.

 

  • BBS Global Brand Reports are available for more than 100 broadcast technology vendors.  These reports provide deep insight into how each company is perceived by the market, along with comprehensive benchmarking of broadcast technology vendors on a wide variety of metrics, through a series of league table rankings

 

  • Twenty-six separate 2011 BBS Product Reports provide detailed vendor brand ranking for individual product categories. These reports enable users to benchmark their brand directly against specific competitors through a detailed understanding of the opinions of technology buyers who purchase, specify or use each product type.  

.

If you would like information about these reports and how they can help your business, please get in touch.

In addition to these paid-for reports, we will also be publishing highlights from the study on the Devoncroft website.  These articles will be posted on a semi-regular basis, so please check back often.   

You’ll also be seeing information from the 2011 BBS in a wide variety of other industry websites and trade magazines.

The tables below show the product categories and broadcast technology vendor brands covered in the 2011 BBS.

..

 Product Categories Covered in the 2011 BBS:

.

.

Broadcast Technology Brands Covered in the 2011 BBS:

.

.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

More Broadcast Vendor M&A: Evertz Buys Pharos, Adding Automation and Media Management Capabilities to New Playout Solutions

broadcast industry trends, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Broadcast Vendor M&A | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jan 04 2011

When Evertz released their Q2 numbers last month, the earnings press release included a short paragraph that said:

Subsequent Event: The Company, on December 3, 2010, entered into an agreement to purchase the shares of an international technology based company for under $5 million.

When asked about this purchase by equity analysts on the earnings conference call, Evertz EVP Brian Campbell did not identify the acquired company by name, but said that it had revenue of around C$9m and was modestly profitable.  Campbell went on to say that the newly acquired company provides file-based workflow, automation and content management tools that will help Evertz accelerate its penetration of file-based markets, specifically those it will soon be addressing with its recently announced media server and channel-in-a-box products.  

I have now had it confirmed that the acquired company is UK-based Pharos.

There is good logic behind this deal, and it appears to make sense for both sides.  Evertz recently launched video server and channel-in-a-box products, but lacked the media management and automation systems required for comprehensive control.  Pharos had the right software tools, but lacked a hardware platform – a situation that was increasingly becoming an issue as their competitors consolidated and aligned through M&A (e.g. Miranda’s acquisition of OmniBus) and / or as automation vendors increasingly enter the playout business with their own hardware platforms (e.g. Snell’s Morpheus ICE and the Pebble Beach Dolphin system).

Pharos co-founder Spencer Rodd told me the two companies started talking at the 2010 IBC show about how to integrate Pharos’ automation and media management products with the new Evertz playout server and channel-in-a-box products.  The product integration went well and Rodd said that he was very impressed by what he saw at Evertz, especially its engineering ethos and ability to mobilize engineering teams and get projects done quickly.  Once the initial integration was completed, the two companies recognized that a deeper relationship made sense, and the deal was done.

Although Pharos has been acquired by Evertz, it will remain a stand-alone business unit and both Rodd and fellow co-founder Roger Heath are remaining with the company.

Rodd says that no layoffs are planned and that Pharos is currently hiring in order to expand its team and to penetrate new markets including North America.  This is clearly good news for Pharos, since the company was in danger of being stretched too thinly as it worked to deliver complex multi-site projects for customers world-wide.  The additional resources now available to the Pharos team will enable them to deliver projects more smoothly, and should also give customers the confidence to invest in Pharos technologies.

The deal is due to be announced tomorrow.

.

.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment »

Reliability Rankings of Broadcast Technology Vendors — The Top 30 Globally

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research, Top Broadcast Vendor Brands | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 27 2010

This is part of series of posts about the how the brands of broadcast technology vendors were ranked by respondents to the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS).

Each year as part of the Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), a global sample of broadcast professionals are asked to rank their opinion of a number of technology vendor brands on a wide range of metrics.  This information is used to create a series of reports, which through benchmarking and industry “league tables” enable these vendors to understand their competitive position in the market.

More than 5,600 people in 120+ countries participated in the 2010 BBS, making this the largest ever and most comprehensive study of the broadcast industry. In addition to measuring a variety of broadcast industry trends, more than 100 vendor brands (in 27 separate product categories) were evaluated by respondents.

Recently, posts which rank broadcast technology vendors include:

 

.

Today let’s look at how respondents ranked broadcast technology vendors for reliability.

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 scale of 1-10 — with 10 being best in the market, and 1 being worst in the market.  The top 30 ranked brands for overall opinion are shown below for the global sample of all respondents.

In all cases, these results are shown in alphabetical order, NOT in the order in which they were ranked by respondents to the survey. 

.

Reliability – Top 30 Broadcast Technology Brands (Alpha Order)

There are a wide variety of vendors on this list, including large & small companies and those who produce audio and video products. 

  

.

Number of products per vendor – Single Product Companies Dominate Reliability Rankings

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 whether reliability comes from small focused companies, or large multi-product 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.

 A breakdown of how many product categories are produced by each vendor on the top 30 quality list is shown below:

With 21 out of 30 vendors on this list producing a product in only one BBS category (out of 27 measured) it’s clear that focused, specialized companies are regarded as reliability leaders in the eyes of the global broadcast market. 

Nevertheless it’s also worth pointing out that large companies can also be considered industry innovators. For example Grass Valley is covered in 10 product categories in the 2010 BBS and Snell is covered in 5 product categories. 

  

.

Geographic Location

Another factor to consider is the geographic location of each company on the list.  By this measure, companies headquartered in EMEA are the clear reliability leaders, while companies based in the Americas and Asia trail the pack. 

Keep in mind that when looking at geography, it’s important to remember that many of these firms are truly global, with offices all over the world, regardless of where they are headquartered.

  

.

Product Categories

Finally, let’s look at the product categories produced by the vendors who made the top 30 reliability list for the 2010 BBS.

Out of the 27 product categories covered in the 2010 BBS, 20 appear on this list; making reliability more concentrated than other metrics such as quality (which had entrants from 23 product categories).

Audio products lead the list of products produced by the top 30 reliability leaders, with audio consoles and microphones topping the rankings.  ENG cameras and studio cameras, along with audio monitors also make a strong showing.

.

Please keep in mind when reviewing this information that, unless otherwise specified, all data these charts are presented in alphabetical order, not in the order brands were ranked by respondents to the 2010 BBS.  Also, the charts in this posting measure the responses of all 2010 BBS respondents, regardless of their company type, company size, geographic location, job title and budget for broadcast technology products.  

In order to get full value from this data, it is necessary to evaluate these results on a granular basis.  If you would like more information, please contact Devoncroft Partners.

  

.

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.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment »

Innovation Rankings for Broadcast Technology Vendors — The Top 30 Globally

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research, Top Broadcast Vendor Brands | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jun 16 2010

This is the third in a series of posts about the how the brands of broadcast technology vendors were ranked by respondents to the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS). 

Each year as part of the Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), a global sample of broadcast professionals are asked to rank their opinion of a number of technology vendor brands on a wide range of metrics.  This information is used to create a series of reports, which through benchmarking and industry “league tables” enable these vendors to understand their competitive position in the market. 

More than 5,600 people in 120+ countries participated in the 2010 BBS, making this the largest ever and most comprehensive study of the broadcast industry. In addition to measuring a variety of broadcast industry trends, more than 100 vendor brands (in 27 separate product categories) were evaluated by respondents. 

Recently, I discussed how respondents to the 2010 BBS ranked The Top 30 Broadcast Technology Vendor Brands by Overall Opinion, Ranked, Globally and Regionally, and followed up with a ranking of the Top 30 Broadcast Vendor Brands by Net Change in Brand Image. 

In keeping with the theme of top 30 rankings, let’s now turn to one of the most important metrics for any technology company – innovation. 

The product side of the film & broadcast industry is driven by technology and innovation.  All vendors strive to create techniques that will make their products stand out from the competition.  Thus innovation is a very important component of the brand image and reputation of vendors in this space. 

To find out which broadcast technology vendors are considered to be most highly regarded in terms of innovation, more than 4,000 broadcast industry professionals were  asked to rank broadcast technology vendor brands for “Innovation” on a scale of 1-10 — with 10 being best in the market, and 1 being worst in the market.  The top 30 ranked brands for overall opinion are shown below for the global sample of all respondents. 

In all cases, these results are shown in alphabetical order, NOT in the order in which they were ranked by respondents to the survey.   

Innovation — The top 30 broadcast technology brands, listed alphabetically (global sample of all respondents) 

There’s a broad mix of vendors included in the above table including both audio and video and audio companies.  There are also interesting similarities and differences in terms of the types of products produced, geographic location and company size (something that is not measured in the BBS and won’t be discussed further here)..  So let’s look a little deeper into these results. 

 

.

Number of products per vendor 

One obvious question that should be asked when reviewing these results is how many products are produced by each vendor on this list.  This will help us to understand if whether innovation comes from small focused companies, or large multi-product vendors.    

A breakdown of how many product categories are produced by each vendor on the top 30 innovation list is shown below: 

 

It’s interesting to note that vendors producing just one product account for more than half of the vendors in the top 30 innovation list.  This suggests that focused companies who apply their efforts to specialist product areas are often able to generate more innovation in the eyes of the market.  

Nevertheless it’s also worth pointing out that large companies can also be considered industry innovators. For example Grass Valley is covered in 10 product categories in the 2010 BBS and Avid is covered in 7 product categories.  These are examples of large companies who have managed to remain instill innovation across their product lines. 

Please keep in mind that this is not an absolute measure of the products produced be each vendor.  In total, the 2010 BBS looked at 148 vendors in 27 separate product categories (based on the IABM’s industry model), but even so it did not necessarily cover the entire product range of all vendors. 

 

.

Geographic Location 

Another factor to consider is the geographic location of each company on the list.  By this measure, companies headquartered in EMEA just edged out those based in North America on the top 20 innovation list, while companies based in Asia trailed the pack.  

 

This is not surprising since this broadly reflects where the companies on the overall list are based.  

In terms of individual countries, the USA leads the way with 10 companies on the list of the 30 top innovators, with Germany close behind with 6 vendors on the list. 

When looking at geography, it’s important to remember that many of these firms are truly global, with offices all over the world, regardless of where they are headquartered. 

 

.

Product Categories 

Finally, let’s look at the product categories produced by the vendors who made the top 30 innovation list for the 2010 BBS:

Out of the 27 product categories covered in the 2010 BBS, 23 appear on this list; showing that innovation is widespread across the broadcast industry.

Signal processing, studio cameras and video editing lead the list of products produced by the top 30 innovation leaders.

.

Please keep in mind when reviewing this information that, unless otherwise specified, all data these charts are presented in alphabetical order, not in the order brands were ranked by respondents to the 2010 BBS.  Also, the charts in this posting measure the responses of all 2010 BBS respondents, regardless of their company type, company size, geographic location, job title and budget for broadcast technology products.  

In order to get full value from this data, it is necessary to evaluate these results on a granular basis.  If you would like more information, please contact Devoncroft Partners. 

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.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

What Broadcast Buyers Are Evaluating for Purchase in 2010

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Apr 08 2010

This is the third in a series of articles about 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.

NAB 2010 is less than a week away, and as the industry prepares to gather in Las Vegas for its biggest event of the year, the question on the minds of many is what technologies are in demand by customers around the world.

In previous posts I have discussed the most important technology trends in the broadcast industry and examined where money is being spent in the broadcast industry in terms of major projects planned for the year.

These industry trends and major projects drive technology purchasing in the broadcast industry, and that’s the focus of this article — the products that are being evaluated for purchase this year by broadcast professionals.

As part of our 2010 global market study we wanted to help our readers understand what broadcast professionals around the world are shopping for this year.  We presented technology buyers with a list of relevant product categories, and asked them to indicate which product type they are currently evaluating for purchase. 

The results, which are shown in the table below, demonstrate a broad range of industry demand.

 What broadcast technology products / services are you currently evaluating for purchase? 

These responses show that production technology such as editing, ENG cameras, along with test & measurement and key audio products will be in demand around the world as broadcast professionals upgrade their facilities to HDTV operations, which was ranked #1 in terms of planned projects for the year (link to article).

The transition to file-based / tapeless workflows will be facilitated by purchases of production servers along with transcoding products, which facilitate multi-format interoperability in the file-based domain.

The new studios, OB vans and channels that are being planned will drive evaluation of a wide variety of equipment including multiviewers, servers, signal processing, routing switchers and storage.

A significant number of respondents indicated that they are currently evaluating products that increase operational efficiency and streamline working practices.  These include library / storage management, automation and workflow / asset management.

Video transport and transmission gear should also see strong demand as customers around the world seek to use improve compression efficiency, connect operations by IP links, and increase the number of channels delivered to consumers.

Keep in mind when reading this information that this table presents the responses of all global participants in the 2010 BBS, regardless of organization type, size or location; and shows the number of respondents that are evaluating products without regard to size of project or value of purchase.  Granular analysis of these results, including breakdown of data by geographic region, customer type and customer size, is available as part of the full 2010 BBS Global Market Report from Devoncroft Partners.

Published by Devoncroft Partners, the annual Big Broadcast Survey (BBS) is the largest and most comprehensive studies of broadcast industry trends and technology vendor brands.  The BBS provides insight into market trends, technology budgets, plant, equipment upgrade plans, and the perceptions of leading broadcast industry vendor brands by a wide variety of broadcast professionals across the world.  It also delivers vendor brand ranking “league tables” in a variety of product categories; all of which can be segmented by geography and customer type.  More than 5,600 people in 120+ countries participated in the 2010 BBS project. Information about the 2010 BBS can be found at www.devoncroft.com

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

Where is Money Being Spent in the Broadcast Industry? — A Review of Major Projects Being Planned

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Mar 25 2010

This is the second in a series of articles about 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.

In the current environment, everyone in the broadcast business wants to know what parts of the industry are doing well, where money is being spent, and what is driving this spending.  While there is no absolute answer to these questions, the findings from the 2010 BBS go a long way towards answering them.

Much of the technology purchasing in the broadcast industry is driven by major projects ranging from international events such as elections and sporting championships, to the long-term, planned capital upgrades of broadcast infrastructure and facilities.  Thus an understanding of which major projects are being implemented by broadcaster professionals around the world provides insight the capital expenditure plans of the industry.

Major Projects Planned for this Year

As part of our 2010 broadcast industry market study, more than 3,000 broadcast processionals – including radio and TV broadcasters, cable/satellite/IPTV operators, playout centers, post production facilities, and cable programmers — were asked to provide information about the projects they are currently implementing or are planning to implement in the next 12 months.  

Respondents were presented with a list of major projects and asked to indicate up to five choices that they are currently implementing or have planned / budgeted to implement in the next year.  The chart below shows the percentage of respondents who indicated they are planning to implement each project.  Respondents were also asked to provide budget details for each project.  This budget information along with a granular breakdown of planned projects is available in the 2010 BBS Global Market Report from Devoncroft Partners.

Which technology projects are you currently implementing or planning to implement in the next 12 months?

 

 

By a wide margin, more respondents selected “upgrading infrastructure for HD/ 3Gbps operations” than any other type of project.  It’s interesting to note that last year, in our 2009 broadcast industry market study, that the transition to HDTV operations was ranked by respondents as the technology trend most important technology to their business – and by a similarly wide margin.  In the time since the 2009 BBS was published, broadcast professionals have apparently translated top-ranked trend this into action through real-world projects that are either currently being implemented or planned for the current year. (For reference, you can read about the 2009 industry trends here).

In addition to upgrading infrastructure for HD/3Gbps operations, respondents also indicated that they plan to upgrade their transmission and distribution capabilities – presumably to support their transition to HDTV and to prepare for analog switch-off.

As shown in a previous post about the broadcast industry’s most important technology trends for 2010, the transition to HDTV operations was one of the top-ranked technology trends this year as well.  Indeed there is a strong correlation between how respondents ranked which trends are most important to their business, and the major projects they are planning or implementing. 

The major projects ranking 3rd and 4th in terms of how many respondents plan to implement them were “installing or enhancing a workflow / asset management system”,  and “archive-related projects.”  The high percentage of broadcast professionals planning to implement these projects highlights the fact that the industry is striving for ways to become more efficient and to monetize content in more ways.  It’s also good news for asset management, storage and library management vendors.   

The top four-ranked projects are closely aligned with 2010’s most important trends in the broadcast industry (link), which show that the priorities for the industry are to continue the transition to HDTV operations, while at the same time find ways of being more efficient (through automated and file-based / tapeless workflows), and generating new revenue streams (through multi-platform content distribution).

These results also show that the industry will continue to push ahead with new content creation and delivery projects.  Ranking 5th and 6th on the list of planned projects are “build new studios / OB vans,” and “launch new channels.”  Undoubtedly the vast majority of new studios and OB vans will be HD capable; as will many of the new channels.  It’s also clear from these findings that many of the new channels will undoubtedly have a strong automation component (the #7 project on this list), regardless of whether they are HD or SD.

The rest of project list which was selected by at least 10% of respondents includes offers an interesting picture of project activity across the world, with everything from upgrading audio and newsrooms, to multi-platform content distribution.

It’s worth pointing out here that in the 2010 ranking of the broadcast industry’s most important trends, that multi-platform content distribution was ranked #1 in terms of being “most important” to respondents businesses in the future.  Time will tell whether this will translate into the #1 planned project as was the case with the transition to HDTV operations after it was rank as the most important trend last year.

Finally, let’s examine the four planned projects that appear at the bottom of this list: “install or revamp business management system,” “consolidate operations in regional hubs,” “work with management consultants on business /technology transformation,” and “outsource operations e.g. playout.”

These are all very large projects that will most likely be done by only the largest broadcast professionals.  Keep in mind that the planned project chart in this article shows the responses of all global participants in the 2010 BBS broadcast industry study, regardless of organization type, size or location. Thus it measures the number of planned projects, but does not measure their size, value or relative commercial importance.  The 2010 BBS Global Market Report from Devoncroft Partners provides granular analysis of planned projects, broken down by organization type, size and location.

 

 

 

Published by Devoncroft Partners, the annual Big Broadcast Survey (BBS) is the largest and most comprehensive studies of broadcast industry trends, technology budgets and projects, and technology vendor brands.  The BBS provides insight into market trends and the perceptions of leading broadcast industry vendor brands by a wide variety of broadcast professionals across the world.  It also delivers vendor brand ranking “league tables” in a variety of product categories; all of which can be segmented by geography and customer type.  More than 5,600 people in 120+ countries participated in the 2010 BBS project. Information about the 2010 BBS can be found at www.devoncroft.com

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

2010 Syndicated Broadcast Technology Market Research Now Available

broadcast technology market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Mar 05 2010

Reports from the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), conducted by Devoncroft Partners, are now available for purchase.

The 2010 BBS is the largest ever and most comprehensive market study of the broadcast industry. More than 5,600 broadcast professionals in 120+ countries participated in the project.

Reports derived from BBS data deliver insight into the opinions and attitudes of key technology buyers including broadcasters, playout centers, cable/satellite/ IPTV operators, radio stations, recording studios and more. This includes industry trends; purchase intent and buying behavior; major project plans; products being evaluated for purchase.

2010 BBS reports also provides detailed opinions of 148 broadcast technology vendor brands in 27 separate product categories (see below for details)

For more information about the available reports and their contents, please follow this link.

 

Product Categories Covered in 2010 BBS reports:

 

Vendor Brands Covered in 2010 BBS reports:

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »