IBC
article here
Integrated Systems Europe, the
European trade show focused on professional AV, is scheduled for a physical
presence in Barcelona from 10-13 May 2022. It will be the show’s debut at the
Fira exhibition centre after outgrowing the RAI in Amsterdam.
The 2019 edition was ISE’s largest show yet with
over 1,300 exhibitors and 81,000 visitors. Just over 700 vendors have bought space
for this pandemic-hit edition.
The Western European market for pro AV contracted
21% in 2020 to $22.3 billion due to Covid-19 according to AVIXA, the trade body
which together with home technology trade association CEDIA runs ISE. Growth is
predicted to exceed 10% this year, although pre-pandemic levels of spending
($28 billion) are not expected until 2023-24.
Bringing back the wow-factor
Although mass-attend live events remain something
of a novelty, it won’t be too long before audiences become just as demanding of
innovation as they were pre-pandemic. This means that event producers need to
deploy an increasingly sophisticated set of solutions to deliver an immersive
experience that embraces physical and virtual attendees.
“The ability to engage remote guests and live
audiences in an interactive way is crucial to AV going forward,” says Liam
Hayter, Senior Solutions Architect, NewTek.
There’s considerable interest in using LED screens
and projection to connect speakers and groups to an event wherever they may be,
he believes.
“AV pros now don’t bat an eyelid when they set up
hybrid events using multiple NDI streams, a spectacular studio set with
big-screen projection and imaginative LED configurations, plus mapped elements,
for a primarily online audience,” says Trond Solvold, Sales Director, Dataton.
This means that stage and set lighting must now be
designed with the camera in mind rather than just for the venue itself. For
example, the refresh rates of stage lighting, including from LED panels, should
be technically compatible with the video streaming solution.
ISE 2022 features a new Lighting & Staging Zone
with solutions for rigging and staging equipment, motion tracking, video
mapping, lighting control and holography. From TV shows like Strictly
Come Dancing to concerts like the holographic ABBAtars launching in
London this spring, audiences want a higher level of glitz, engagement and
spectacle.
“As the on-stage canvas widens to integrate video,
LED and projection, so the job of the lighting designer merges with the scenic
production designer and the AV designer to become almost one role: the visual
designer,” says Jason Larcombe, Senior Project Manager, White Light. “The
division between when light stops being a fixture and starts being eye candy or
a video product has blurred – and that blurring will only continue.”
Mind the skills gap
The AV industry was facing a skills crisis long
before the pandemic. In some sectors it is now acute, with freelancers in
particular lured to permanent employment or outside the industry itself.
“Live events are dominated by freelancers for whom
life was harder because there was no package of security and support, so they
left the industry,” says Tobias Lang, CEO, Lang AG.
“Every AV company
and every end user is looking to hire permanent staff,” confirms Graeme Massey,
MD at recruitment agency JacobsMassey. “Consequently, there are fewer
candidates in the market. Salaries have exponentially increased to attract the
remaining pool of freelancers.”
Freelance rates have also soared by 40-50%, while
vacancies that used to attract a couple dozen CVs now have several hundred.
Massey adds: “Generally, you need someone who
understands both AV system architecture and broadcast networks to deliver
events online. That online element is here to stay and has widened the skills
gap.”
A chief problem that existed pre-Covid was one of
branding. The industry needs to do more to raise awareness of the opportunities
an AV career can bring.
“This is the main challenge,” Lang insists. “The
general public have an awareness of what it means to work in IT but the same is
not true of AV. We have to change this.”
The diversity of career opportunity within AV needs
to be contrasted with the more familiar career goals of music or media
production.
“A career in AV is very broad,” says Jack Laidlaw,
who ran an AV course at Middlesbrough College. “You can be dealing with audio,
projection, networking, computing – online or at a venue. There’s systems
integration and management. AV is like an international language. Once you
understand it, you can go all over the world.”
Component shortages
Price rises and kit shortages are also bubbling
under the surface. Companies in the professional displays market, for instance,
experienced a bleak 2020, with value dropping by more than 15% year-on-year,
according to Futuresource Consulting.
The pandemic caused disruption, factories closed
due to an assumed drop in demand, and natural disasters also played their part.
Earthquakes hit a Japanese semiconductor manufacturing plant, winter storms
struck a Texas plant, while a fire and severe drought slashed production in
Taiwan.
“In addition, some vendors have suffered due to
under-forecasting the recovery and falling to the back of the queue for
component orders,” says Matthew Rubin, senior market analyst at Futuresource.
Few vendors like to talk about the issue publicly
for fear of dissuading potential buyers. At the same time many do voice concern
in private and want to get the message out to the market that the global supply
chain is impacting freight rates and higher logistics costs are causing
potential price rises. One company that has stuck its head above water is
Belgian digital imaging and projection vendor Barco. It expects its 2021
earnings to be negatively impacted and has been forced to increase its product
prices.
The demand for LED
That said, the display market contains within it
the seeds of a successful rebound. Arguably, digital signage has never been
more useful for sharing information in public spaces. Indeed, 2021 saw a 27%
growth in this market, valued globally at $36 billion, reckons Futuresource.
“As we emerge from the turmoil, it’s astounding how
much market rebound has been achieved against all the odds,” says Rubin.
“Product quality has matured, brand equity is moving to the forefront and the
downstream supply chain is placing more emphasis on the combined offering of
product, solution and service. This demand for a more premium solution is
destabilising the technology leadership of Chinese brands.”
Other research points to huge demand for LED
billboards, a market in which companies like Barco, Daktronics, Absen and
Leyard have a stake. Market Insights forecasts a CAGR of 7.5% to $600 million
2021-2027.
LED itself is the dominant technology in this
space, growing at over 22% a year to 2025 (Futuresource). It is evolving too
from surface mount device (SMD) LED, through MiniLED toward MicroLED.
Another variant is transparent OLED – look for this
to be LG’s ISE showstopper. Due to OLED’s self-emissive nature, OLED is
transparent enough to replace glass. At CES in January, LG debuted a retail
concept in which four 55in transparent OLEDs were arranged to mimic a shop
window. The tech is also proposed for use in the home to display paintings or
other ambient backdrops.
AV-broadcast crossover
The technologies and workflows differentiating AV
from broadcast have been shunted closer together during the pandemic. The
obvious examples are the application of virtual meeting tools as a broadcast
standard, while broadcast workflows are being utilised more frequently in
enterprise video conferencing.
“The difference is shrinking rapidly,” says Marc
Risby, MD, Boxer Systems, a supplier and integrator which covers both markets.
“Broadcast used to mean having an aerial on the roof. Now you just need an
internet connection. The last job we did for an investment bank was built to a
higher standard - in 4K - than a local news studio.”
Major corporate customers with internal AV
departments “would traditionally have limited understanding of the most complex
broadcast practices”, says Bob Boster, President, Clear-Com. “But largely
because of Covid, they have been doing more and more media production workflows
like live streaming meetings, training and other events.”
Another notable AV-to-broadcast tech exchange is
LED screens. Netflix’ forthcoming epic 1899 uses virtual
production techniques in which live action photography is shot on stages ringed
by LED backdrops.
Fundamentally the convergence of AV with broadcast
concerns AV-over-IP.
“While AV is likely ahead of traditional broadcast
in terms of the implementation of AV-over-IP, it is looking to broadcast
standards – like ST-2110 and NMOS – that can provide it with interoperability
and refine into an AV technology standard like IPMX,” says Ron Berty, Business
Development Manager, Matrox Video. “The common goal is interoperability and
elimination of technology dependence.”
The two industries are unlikely to converge
completely. An example of this is the imperative in live broadcasting for
super-low latency which the ST-2110 standard provides using uncompressed video.
On the other hand, as costs reduce to democratise
access, Mike Grieve, Commercial Director of Mo-Sys Engineering, says: “There’s
no reason why the majority of kit used for broadcast is any different to that
in a corporate.”
Catering to the 0.001%
One market putting clear water between AV and
broadcast is that of the superyacht. Buoyed by “astounding” growth of 45% in
2020 for build orders and refits, Jack Robinson, the chair of ISE’s inaugural
Superyacht Technology Summit, says these “ultra-high net worth individuals”
have continued to make money during the pandemic “and have insisted on a safe,
virus-free environment for their family and work teams”.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,
0.001% of the population benefited during the health crisis. Superyacht owners
are now younger, tech savvy and demand technology that works faster, sleeker
and more efficiently, explains Robinson.
“Smart homes have led the way to smart superyachts.
It is not a case of purely copy and pasting from other industries though, as
superyachts require additional finessing in the development stage. For example,
LG’s roll-up TV is exactly the type of technology that new owners will be
looking for. However, the R&D required for superyachting includes
additional things like vibration testing.”
Summit delegates can expect VIP treatment including
‘a lavish networking dinner in one of Barcelona’s top restaurants’.
ISE MD Mike Blackman says the superyacht market
represents significant opportunities for vendors.
“It brings together high-end solutions for
luxurious living and sophisticated technologies for navigation, communications
and connectivity. It is an important market for many of our major exhibitors.”
No comments:
Post a Comment