Posts Tagged ‘EVS’

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

broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research, market research, Top Broadcast Vendor Brands | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jul 14 2011

This is the fourth 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 a global sample of  broadcast professionals 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.

This post looks at how our global sample of broadcast professionals ranked 118 different broadcast technology vendors in terms of their overall opinion of these vendors (to see a list of the brands covered in this study, please click here).

Respondents were asked to rank their opinion of broadcast technology vendor brands 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 both the global sample of all respondents as well as for all respondents in each of the geographic regions.

Results are shown in two ways:

  • An overall industry “league table” that shows the 30 highest ranked vendors for the metric “overall opinion.”  The data in this chart is broken out globally and regionally.

 

  • An analysis of the “frequency” of appearance in the “overall opinion league table”

 

The top 30 ranked brands for overall opinion are shown below for both the global sample of all respondents as well as for all respondents in each of the geographic regions.

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

 

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2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table

 

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A total of 43 broadcast technology vendor brands are included in this table, illustrating the geographic variation of opinion.

In terms of frequency of appearance in this table:

 

  • 19 brands appear four times, meaning they were ranked in the top 30 globally and in each geographic region

 

  • 9 brands appear three times

 

  • 2 brands appear two times

 

  • 13 brands appear one time which demonstrates that some brands are strongest in one geographic area

 

 

Analysis of the data shows that are some clear market leaders on a global basis, while others are strong on a regional basis.

A breakdown of how many times each company appears in the ranking shows how many times each brand appears in the chart above.

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Brands appearing four times in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table: 

  • Adobe, AKG, Apple, beyerdynamic, Canon, Cisco, Dolby, Fujinon, Genelec, Grass Valley, Neumann, Panasonic, Schoeps, Sennheiser, Shure, Solid State Logic (SSL), Sony, Tektronix, Yamaha

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Brands appearing three times in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table: 

  • Aja Video, Avid, Blackmagic Design, Clear-Com, JBL, Rohde & Schwarz, Snell, Studer, Wohler

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Brands appearing two times in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table:

  • Audio-Technica, RTS Intercom Systems

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Brands appearing once in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table:

  • Electro Voice, Evertz, EVS, Harris, Ikegami, Lawo, Mackie, Omneon, Quantel, Riedel, RTW, Telex, Barco

 

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Frequency Analysis of the Brands in the in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table:  

In order to provide a better understanding of which brands were most highly ranked in each geography, the data has been provided in  the table below, which shows the global and regional performance for each brand in the top 30 ranking of overall opinion.

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Frequency Analysis of Brands in the 2011 BBS Overall Brand Opinion League Table

The frequency chart shows some interesting geographic variation in the data.

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Appearing in the top 30 “overall opinion” ranking globally + one region

Two brands managed to achieve a top 30 ranking in the global overall opinion league table, despite being in the top 30 of only one of the
three geographic regions.

  • Audio-Technica (Asia Pacific), RTS Intercom Systems (Americas)

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Appearing in the top 30 “overall opinion” ranking in one region

The following 13 brands did not make the top 30 in the global league table of overall opinion, but they did appear in the top 30 overall opinion ranking in one of the geographic regions:

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Appearing in the top 30 “overall opinion” ranking only in EMEA

  • Barco, EVS, Lawo, Quantel, Riedel, RTW

 

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Appearing in the top 30 “overall opinion” ranking  only in Asia-Pacific

  • Omneon

 

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Appearing in the top 30 “overall opinion” ranking  only in the Americas

  • Electro-Voice, Evertz, Harris, Ikegami, Mackie, Telex

 

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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.

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.

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

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

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EVS Q1 Revenue Increases 8.7 Percent, Anticipating Strong Second Half of 2011

Broadcast technology vendor financials, Quarterly Results | Posted by Joe Zaller
May 12 2011

EVS, which provides video servers for live production and studio playout applications, announced that its revenue for the first quarter of 2011 was €22.7m, an increase of 9% versus the same period a year ago, and down 16% from the previous quarter.  Excluding currency fluctuations and big event rentals related to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the company said its revenue increased 19.7% versus last year.

The company also reported that its Q1 2011 results include one-time profit of a €5 million from the sale to Barco of the CineStore products from XDC, the digital cinema subsidiary of EVS.

Gross margins declined slightly to 77.2% due to product mix and increasing headcount, particularly in R&D, which EVS has been increasing for several quarters. Operating margins declined 15% to 39.8%.

On a segment basis, revenue in the quarter was evenly balanced between the studio and outside broadcast (OB) segments, making this the second quarter in succession that the studio segment has accounted for 50% of EVS revenue.  OB revenue was up 50.9% versus a weak first quarter of 2010, while the studio segment decreased by 15.1% compared to the same period a year ago. EVS said that in the first quarter of 2010 it had €2.4 million of rentals relating to the Winter Olympics (mainly studio related).

On a geographic basis:

  • Revenue from the EMEA region was €13.9m (61.3% of total revenue), an increase of 48% versus the same period a year ago.  The company said that its business in Europe continues to be steady and supported by a market that is slowly migrating to tapeless and high definition, and that it has won “significant Middle East customers” and also had wins in the UK, Scandinavia and Central Europe. Turmoil in Northern Africa is only slightly impacting EVS group sales.

 

  • Revenue from the Americas was €4.7m, and OB was up in the Americas by 71. The company says that Latin America is showing positive signs and that it is opening an office in Mexico.

 

  • APAC revenue declined 12% to €4.1m.  50% of APAC revenue was in the orders from studio segment, including an ongoing significant project for a new satellite air delay solution in SE Asia.

 

The company’s remarks about the quarter were cautious but positive. CFO Jacques Galloy said Q1 orders met company expectations, and that usual business seasonality and new product releases are positive signs for a strong  second half of the year.  Galloy was especially positive about the company’s prospects for 2012, saying. “Next year shall benefit from big sporting events and the current developments leveraging our position in studio niches.”

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Related Content:

Press Release: EVS REPORTS REVENUE AND RESULTS FOR 1Q11

EVS Q1 2011 earnings presentation to equity analysts

More Broadcast Vendor M&A: EVS Sells XDC CineStore Digital Cinema Technology to Barco

EVS Posts Record Revenue in 2010, Driven by Improving Market Conditions and Global Move to HDTV

Press release: EVS reports revenue and results to Q1 2010

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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.  

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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.

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 Product Categories Covered in the 2011 BBS:

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Broadcast Technology Brands Covered in the 2011 BBS:

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More Broadcast Vendor M&A: EVS Sells XDC CineStore Digital Cinema Technology to Barco

Broadcast technology vendor financials, Broadcast Vendor M&A | Posted by Joe Zaller
Mar 04 2011

Less than two weeks after Reuters reported that Barco is “seriously considering” new acquisitions to boost its growth, the Belgium-based projection vendor announced that it has acquired the CineStore activities of cinema solutions provider XDC.

Broadcast production and playout server vendor EVS is the majority shareholder in XDC.  

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is perhaps not a surprising move for Barco, which recently announced strong financial results, driven in large part by the global expansion of digital cinema.  The company appears to be seeking to leverage its recent D-Cinema projection sales success into a more integrated provider of complete D-Cinema solutions.

Indeed, Barco says the acquisition will help it “move up in the value chain from digital projection supplier to provider of total cinema visualization solutions,” and that the CineStore team brings profound software knowhow and in-depth market knowledge of the digital cinema business.

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XDC’s CineStore products include:

  • Solo G3: a hybrid digital cinema server offering both JPEG 2000 and MPEG-2 play-back capabilities. It is used as Screen Management System (SMS). 

 

  • Audi: a system for digital to analogue conversion, external analogue audio source inputs and high quality signal isolation.

 

  • Plaza: a hardware and software suite that enables to fully manage a cinema multiplex from a single point.

 

Barco’s VP of Digital Cinema Wim Buyens said that adding CineStore’s skills and experience to Barco’s business will allow it to strengthen its market position.  However he added that the company is not seeking to become an integrator (and compete with its existing distribution channel). “We stand by our strategy not to be a VPF integrator. Instead, we will remain focused on supplying visualization technologies and products for the professional digital cinema community,” said Buyens. 

The acquisition of CineStore activities will be closed by the end of Q1 2011. 

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You can read the full Barco press release here.

Information about CineStore’s products is here.

Information about Barco’s Q4 and full year 2010 results is here.

The Reuters article about Barco’s M&A plans is here.

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EVS Posts Record Revenue in 2010, Driven by Improving Market Conditions and Global Move to HDTV

Broadcast technology vendor financials, Quarterly Results | Posted by Joe Zaller
Feb 17 2011

Live production and studio playout server vendor EVS announced that its revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010 was €26.9m, an increase of 21.3% versus the same period a year ago, but down 19% versus the previous quarter.

For the full year 2010, EVS achieved record revenue of €111.2m, up 45.2% versus 2009.  The company also said that it posted an EBIT margin of 50.0% for the full year. 

Significantly, studio revenue (a relatively new area for the company) increased 125% in 2010, and accounted for about 50% of revenue.  Revenue from outside broadcast applications grew by 7% during the year.

For the full year, EMEA revenue was €61m (55% of total), an increase of 27% versus 2009.  The company said it did well in the UK during 2010, driven deals at Sky News HD and Sky Sports HD deals, and that in the continental European market the migrations to tapeless workflows and high definition continues to drive the market.

2010 revenue from the Americas was €29.1m, up 68% from 2009.  The company said its performance in the US was driven by an expanding OB market, penetration into stadiums, and a variety of smaller deals.  EVS says that the broadcast industry in Latin America is moving fast as well, and that is’s clear Brazil will be energized by hosting future major sporting events in 2014 and 2016.

APAC revenue in 2010 was €21.1m, up 87% over 2009 as the largest sporting events of the year were held in the region.  Deals were spread across the region, with Malaysia being one of the most dynamic markets. The company said that Q4 2020 revenue jumped by 124.2% to €6.3 million, helped by the Commonwealth games that took place in October in India.

During its presentation to equity analysts, said that it continues to invest in new staff as it prepares for an improving market and the 2012 London Olympic Games.  EVS highlighted the fact that it did not lay off staff during the economic downturn, but actually started hiring.  The company added 90 staff in 2010, and now has a total of 366 employees in 19 offices.

Company CEO Pierre L’Hoest, attributed the company’s strong performance in 2010 an overall industry recovery driven by stronger revenues for broadcasters, mixed with a need to optimize the use of existing equipment.  

L’Hoest said that the economic downturn has reinforced the need for clients to optimize the way their workflows are designed.  This benefits EVS, as does the continued global migration to HDTV operations, which L’Hoest says “will continue to be a strong driver for the years to come.”

 

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You can read the full EVS Q4 and full year 2010 earning press release here.

The EVS Q4 and full year equity analyst presentation is here.

Information on the company’s Q3 2010 performance is here.

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What are the Commercial Drivers for the Global Move to File-Based Operations in the Broadcast Industry?

broadcast industry technology trends, broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, market research | Posted by Joe Zaller
Dec 13 2010

This is the second in a series of occasional articles about the commercial drivers behind some of the most important trends in the broadcast industry.  The first article in this series discussed the commercial drivers for the global move to HDTV operations.

As part of the 2010 Big Broadcast Survey (BBS), 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.

The move to file-based workflows ranked number two on this list. 

In order to understand why, we asked a series of questions to those respondents who said the transition to file-based workflows is the one trend that is most commercially important to their business. These included why the move to file-based operations is important to them, which vendors they feel are best positioned to provide solutions to their needs, and what obstacles they think might prevent them from achieving their goals.

As shown in the chart below, the top reason cited by 2010 BBS respondents for the commercial importance of moving to file-based operations is to increase speed and efficiency in the production process.

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The only notable exception to this was respondents from pay-TV operators, who see the move to file-based operations as a way to deliver more channels and services without a significant increase in cost.

Other reasons cited include:

  • Enabling multi-platform content distribution and monetization
  • Reduce headcount and therefore cost
  • To take advantage of lower cost / generic IT technology
  • To deliver more channels / services with significantly increasing cost
  • To eliminate errors

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Top Vendors for File-Based Transition

As a follow-up, respondents were asked which vendor is best suited to help them make the transition to file-based operations.  The ten vendors mentioned most often were: Sony, Avid, Apple, Panasonic, No One Vendor, Grass Valley, Harris, EVS, JVC and Omneon.

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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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EVS Q3 Revenue up 69.4%, Delivers 55% Operating Margins

broadcast industry technology trends, Broadcast technology vendor financials, Quarterly Results | Posted by Joe Zaller
Nov 18 2010

Broadcast server and slow-motion vendor EVS announced strong results for the third quarter of 2010, saying it was the seventh consecutive quarter of growth.

The company reported revenue of €33.2m, with gross margins of 83% and operating margins of 55%.  Quarterly revenue jumped +69.4% vs. the same period last year, and was up 10% versus the previous quarter.  EVS said that revenue for the quarter grew +53.4% at constant exchange rate and excluding the big events rentals in 2010.

The company also said that its order book had increased by 23.1% (excluding big event rentals) to €29.8m.  Significantly 57.9% of the order book is for studio revenue.

On a segment basis, OB revenue was up 77.9% versus the same period a year ago and accounted for two-thirds of the total in the quarter.  Studio revenue was 11.4m, 34.3% of the total.   

On a geographic basis, EMEA revenue was €17.4m (52.5% of total), which is an increase of 33% compared to the same period a year ago.  The company said that the transition to HDTV operations and tapeless workflows continue to drive growth in EMEA.

Revenue from the Americas jumped 149.7% versus Q3 2009 to €9.1m (27% of total).  Stadiums were a key driver in the US market with 16 stadiums having bought new EVS solutions or upgraded existing equipment since the beginning of 2010.  The company said that the market in Latin America is moving well.

APAC revenue grew 115.6% to €6.7m, with the Youth Olympic Games and Asian Games being cited as growth drivers.

Year to date, the company’s revenue was €84.3m, a 50.3% increase versus the first nine months of 2009.  On a geographic basis, revenue during the first nine months of the year increased substantially in all regions, with EMEA 33.1%, Americas up 76.2% and APAC up 74.9%.

For the full year, the company said that it expects revenues to grow by more than 35%, with an EBIT margin of around 50%, despite significant investments in staff increases.

The company says it is entering 2011 with mixed expectations.  Company CFO Jacques Galloy said that 2011 “will be an odd year, without any major event (which represented more than EUR 10 million of rentals in 2010), benefiting from the industry recovery, while our company invests in innovation and expansion. Above all, 2011 has the Olympic year 2012 at the horizon.”

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You can read the full EVS Q3 earnings press release here.

The full EVS conference call presentation to equity analysts is here.

Information about the previous quarter is here.

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EVS Reports Strong Q2 Results: Revenue up 61.2%, Operating Margins of 52.4%

broadcast industry trends, broadcast technology market research, Broadcast technology vendor financials | Posted by Joe Zaller
Aug 26 2010

Belgian-based broadcast sports slow motion and studio server specialist EVS announced strong results for the second quarter of 2010 today, driven by an improving broadcast market and the 2010 World Cup.  The company also reported a strong order book of future orders.

The company reported revenue of €30.2m during the quarter, with gross margins of 79.4% and operating margins of 52.4%. The revenue for the quarter represents an increase of 61.2% versus the same period a year ago, and an increase of 41.6% at constant currency and excluding rental income from major events. Sales were positively impacted by the 2010 World Cup, where EVS supplied more than €5m of equipment (with rental revenues split over Q2 and Q3).

For the first half of 2010, EVS revenue came in at €51.1m, an increase of 40% versus 2009. Operating margins for the first six months were 49.9%.

The company also announced that its summer order book had risen by 64.8% to €38.9m, 40% of which is for studio applications.

Revenue was up in all geographic regions.

EMEA revenue increased 83.9% to €17.6m, with studio applications accounting for 58% of sales.  The company said that the fragmentation of the European market continues to present a strong opportunity as broadcasters in multiple countries make the transition to tapeless workflows and HDTV operations.

Revenue from the Americas region jumped 55.9% to €9m, driven by continuing HD upgrades and expansion of existing workflows.

Sales in Asia rose 7.5%, with studio applications accounting for 69% of the total.  The company says that it expects increased traction in Asia during the second half of the year due to forthcoming large events there.

In both its earnings press release and presentation to analysts, the company stressed that it is investing in its future, saying it has been recruiting new staff and still has 30+ open positions.  The company says it is recruiting software engineers to develop studio applications, and also plans to expand geographically.

The company issued an upbeat statement in its earnings press release.  CEO Pierre L’Hoest declared the 2010 World Cup a huge success and, and highlighted the company’s progress in the studio market, where it continues to make good progress. EVS CFO Jacques Galloy said that the company’s order momentum continues to be solid in both studio and outside broadcast segments, which have benefitted from the market recovery.

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EVS always provides a lot of detail in its earnings press release and presentations.

You can read the full EVS earnings press release here

You can see the full EVS presentation to analysts here

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. 

 

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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. 

 

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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. 

 

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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.

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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.

The Top 30 Improving Vendor Brands in Broadcast Technology, Ranked Globally and Regionally

broadcast technology market research, Broadcast Vendor Brand Research, Top Broadcast Vendor Brands | Posted by Joe Zaller
Jun 07 2010

This is the second 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

Appearing in the top 30 of an overall opinion poll is obviously a good place for any vendor to be, but this only scratches the surface of how the market views a brand. 

While indicative of the market’s view, these overall opinion rankings are presented as a snapshot in time.  They also provide a somewhat one-sided view of how brands are regarded because they take only positive perceptions into account.  In order to get a better understanding of how broadcast technology vendor brands are perceived, it is necessary to look at both the positive and negative opinions of brands, and to take into account how these opinions have changed over time. 

One way to do this is to ask people who have an opinion of a brand, how their opinion of that brand has changed over time – i.e. has it improved, declined or stayed the same. 

When you do this, you can get some interesting results.  It turns out that some brands are more polarizing than others, with different respondents having very different opinions.  For example, here’s a chart from the 2009 Big Broadcast Survey. 

 

Notice that in the above table, the company that was ranked #1 for “got better” also ranked #1 for got worse.

Given these results, it is perhaps more useful to calculate the Net Change in Overall Opinion for each brand, which is calculated by using the following formula:

GB-GW/# of total respondents = Net Change in Brand Image

In other words, the percentage of respondents who said a brand “got worse” is subtracted from the percentage of respondents who said their opinion of a brand had “got better” (ignoring the “stayed the same” number).

This takes into account both the positive and negative perceptions of brands, along with how these opinions have changed over time.  It also presents a more balanced view of which brands are getting better and which are getting worse in the minds of market participants. 

Because some brands are polarizing (as seen in the example above), it’s possible that a strong “got better” response might be cancelled out by a strong “got worse” response.  As a result some companies who were rated in the top 30 on just the “got better” score were not included in the global or regional top 30 because their high “got worse” score dragged down their overall result.  At the same time, a few of the companies with high “got worse” scores still made the top 30 list because these negative scores were cancelled out by even higher “got better” scores. 

In order to arrive at the Net Change in Overall Opinion, research participants were asked whether their opinion of various brands had “got better”, “got worse” or “stayed the same” over the past 2-3 years.

The results of this enquiry are shown below in two ways:

  • An overall industry “league table” that shows the 30 highest ranked vendors for the metric “Net Change of Overall Opinion.”  The data in this chart is broken out globally and regionally. 

 

  • An analysis of the “frequency” of appearance in the “Net Change of Overall Opinion” league table.”

 

The top 30 ranked brands for Net Change of Overall Opinion are shown below for both the global sample of all respondents as well as for all respondents in each of the geographic regions.  

 

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

 

Question: Has your opinion of the following brands improved or declined over the past 2 years in relation to the broadcast technology products / services they provide?

Interestingly, a total of 65 broadcast technology vendor brands are included in this table, demonstrating the strong variation in opinion change based on geographic segmentation of respondents.

In terms of frequency of appearance in this table:

  • 3 brands appear four times, meaning they were ranked in the top 30 globally and in each geographic region. It is possible
  • 10 brands appear three times
  • 26 brands appear two times
  • 26 brands appear once, which demonstrates that some brands are strongest in one geographic area

 

Analysis of the data shows that are some clear market leaders on a global basis, while others are strong on a regional basis. 

A breakdown of how many times each company appears in the ranking shows how many times each brand appears in the chart above.

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Brands appearing four times:

  • Barco, IBM, Ikegami

 

Brands appearing three times:

  • Avid, Chyron, For-A, JBL, JVC, Mackie, Motorola, Siemens, Telex, Yamaha

 

Brands appearing two times:

  • AKG, Audio-Technica, Axon, Dayang, Dolby, Echolab, Electro Voice, EMC, EVS, Fujitsu, Grass Valley, Harmonic, Harris, Klein + Hummel, Orad, Pesa, Pharos, Quantel, RTS Intercom Systems, SeaChange, Shure, Snell, Solid State Logic, Sundance, Tandberg / Ericsson, Tektronix

 

Brands appearing once:

  • Accenture, AMS-Neve, beyerdynamic, Dalet, Evertz, Focal, HP, KRK Systems, Leader Instrument, Marshall Electronics, Miranda, Net Insight, Neumann, Omneon, Omnibus, Pilat, Pixel Power, Quantum, Rohde & Schwarz, Ross Video, S4M, Screen Service, Sintecmedia, Utah Scientific, Vizrt, Wheatstone

 

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Analysis of overall opinion by region:

The table below shows the global and regional performance for each brand in the top 30 ranking of overall opinion. 

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The frequency chart shows some interesting geographic variation in the data, which is highlighted below.

 

Only Global

Interestingly a the following 13 appear in the top 30 Net Change in Overall Opinion for the global sample, but not in any of the regions. 

  • Accenture, AMS-Neve, Focal, KRK Systems, Leader, Net Insight, Omnibus, Pilat Media, Pixel Power, Quantum, Sintecmedia Utah Scientific, Wheatstone

There a number of possible explanations for this.  For example these companies may have fared well in each of the regions, but not well enough to make the top 30.  However when all responses are aggregated, there positive data propels these brands to the top 30 on a global basis.  It is also possible that these brands scored well on a regional basis, but that the regional sample was insufficient to be included in the regional rankings.

 

All regions, but not global

Interestingly, for four brands the converse of the above also occurred – i.e. these brands made the top 30 list for Net Change of Overall Opinion in each of the three regions, but not in the global sample.

  • Avid, For-A, JBL, Yamaha

Again this is due to a variety of factors including the aggregate strength of certain brands, coupled with sample sizes.

 

Global + one region

Nine brands managed to achieve a top 30 ranking in the global Net Change in Overall Opinion league table, despite being in the top 30 of only one of the three geographic regions.

  • Dayang, Echolab, Electrovoice, Fujitsu, JVC, Motorola, Pesa, Quantel, Sundance

 

 

 

Regional Variation

The following brands did not make the top 30 in the global league table of overall opinion, but they did appear in the top 30 overall opinion ranking in one of the geographic regions:

 

Only EMEA

Beyerdynamic, Dalet, Neumann, S4M,

 

Only Asia

Evertz, HP, Miranda, Omneon, Rohde & Schwarz, Ross Video, Screen Service

 

Only Americas

Marshall Eelctronics, Vizrt

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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 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.