AV Magazine
The US market is in recovery mode, as will became clear at June’s InfoComm 2022 but headwinds remain.
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AVIXA’s monthly AV business index for provider revenues hit an all-time high in March, demonstrating predominant growth. Its quarterly survey of demand, MOAR shows consistent increases in planned capex among end-users quarter after quarter. And its forthcoming annual forecast (IOTA) is set to show growth of around 11-15 per cent in 2022 over 2021, potentially setting a new revenue benchmark after the peak of 2019.
“The remaining questions are whether the impacts of inflation and supply challenges will mute the result somewhat,” notes Sean Wargo, senior director of market intelligence. “But with restrictions largely lifted across the country and a large return to in-person activities, we can safely say we are in a much more stable recovery period.”
Regional recovery
Datapath reports that US recovery began regionally with the South East and TOLA area, as much of the general economy in those areas loosened up much quicker. “Now we are seeing recovery across the country with some pressure holding projects back due to supply chain pressures,” says Mark Bohs, the company’s director of sales.
Brian McClimans, vice-president of sales for North America & APAC, Peerless-AV says: “AV investment is growing, and product sales are escalating as businesses and staff return to offices, as the live events sector bounces back and as people become more comfortable to return to a life of in-store shopping, visiting museums and attractions, travelling through airports and major transport hubs.
“Because of this growth, inventory and stock availability remains a challenge. However, the economic situation will only continue to grow in the next twelve to eighteen months, even with inflation.”
One sign of the economic uptick is a lack of available technicians, “who are booked out till the end of the year already, and product availability now restricted due to immense orders pushing factories and suppliers to their capacity,” reports David Barten, sales manager GLP, German Light Products.
If the past two years taught us anything it’s that permanency is an elusive concept. A significant portion of activity over that time was adaptive in nature, such as the shift to 100 per cent remote work, learning, and play to a large degree. Staying remote does not appear to have permanence, though flexibility and hybrid activities will remain in some level across many verticals.
Back to hybrid
Using corporate offices as an example, publicly available data shows construction and leasing of space has rebounded after a decline in 2020. Companies are holding on to their offices and are bringing employees back, even if at a reduced or flexible schedule.
“The hybrid work environment is forcing companies to look differently to their workplaces and offices, and reimagine meeting and collaborative spaces,” says Bohs.
“The emphasis is less on traditional offices and more on communal gathering and meetings. Spaces that can double as collaborative events with large dvLED or LCD video walls are becoming popular for their multipurpose functionality. One part of the day signage, another large Zoom meeting, into presentation space and lastly entertainment. All-in-one space utilising different inputs.”
There are workers who need to communicate face-to-face daily, there are fully remote workers, and there are hybrid workers.
“We need to give the in-office worker as dynamic an experience as possible, and we’re developing AV solutions that do just that,” says Michael DiBella, director of commercial product marketing at Crestron. “Creating digital signage that’s interactive, built for multiple uses, and can be deployed in a variety of form factors — anywhere in a space — is one of the keys to creating that immersive, in-office experience that will draw more people back into the office voluntarily.”
The same trend is highlighted by Lightware which believes ten years of development were pressed into about 10 months due to the pandemic. “It will be incumbent on the AV industry to ensure remote and in-person folks have a similar experience,” says company president, Jason Tirado. “If remote attendees were often less engaged before, that will not be the case going forward.”
Retail is also on the rebound and bringing AV with it. “No longer can a retail outlet hope to capture the buyer with a poster and fixed display,” says Barten. “Shoppers expect a polished and immersive environment to succinctly educate and guide them through brands’ features and benefits. They are looking for an experience as much as the product, as proven by all the AV and theatrical installations now in malls and retail stores.”
Of all the solution areas, live events is the one that continues to struggle the most as audiences slowly but surely rebuild, with corporate events the slowest to return. One major casualty was the collapse earlier this year of rental and staging firm, WorldStage.
AVIXA found revenue declines for venues and live events were very deep, and so expectations of full recovery are not until around 2024. Most other solutions and markets will reach that point in 2022 or 2023, it says.
Some of the strongest markets, both in terms of their revenue contribution and speed of recovery are education and corporate, thanks to heavy investments in adaptive technology over the past two years.
All verticals rise
“While growth may slow for these two markets over the next few years as investments play out, the potential for a follow-up wave of upgrades to improve on earlier solutions that emphasised scalability and speed, is a real possibility over the next five to seven years,” Wargo informs.
“Live events are returning, travel is resuming, hotels are filling, stores are regaining foot traffic, and venues are seeing increased attendance. In total we appear to be more returning to normal activity than holding to staying at home. There are likely still regional differences to this, but the aggregate shows the resumption of in-person.”
Pre-pandemic, Lightware’s business was focused on live event and rental applications. “Covid was a serious threat to our livelihood,” says Tirado. “Now that the pandemic is starting to recede, we’re seeing a lot of pent-up demand because of the relaxed limitations on travel and in-person get togethers. We’re getting more inquiries every day for larger matrices and extenders that indicate live events are coming back.”
In fact, Lightware anticipates its business will double over the next 12 to 18 months with Esports arenas the next frontier. It hopes to outfit stadia and arenas purpose-built to accommodate high-end gaming experiences. “People will attend live to watch remote participants battle it out in a graphic environment that everybody can see simultaneously. Division One colleges are now building speciality spaces for Esports teams.”
Video conference solutions vendor, Konftel also has its eye on revenue growth over the next year. Regional sales director, Peter Gasparro identifies the house of worship vertical in need of “drastic change” to enable hybrid remote/in-person services.
“Many HoW use Konftel equipment to tie into their existing audio equipment so they could live stream their services. Konftel cameras also allowed the houses of worship to easily move about the venue to show different areas during the service.”
He says City Council meetings were similarly transformed during the pandemic. “The public was not allowed to attend these meetings in person, so it resulted in town halls looking for virtual options. Classrooms were driven to a hybrid learning model. Many schools in both K-12 and higher education needed a proper audio and video solution for their remote students.”
Opening the Sports Book
Indeed, several AV firms expect pro AV tenders for education in the next 18 months. Says McClimans: “There has been a lot of government spending on education, which hasn’t been spent yet but is slowly filtering in. The same applies to federal infrastructure investment. Across most verticals there is growth as more organisations recognise the benefits of integrating AV technology to create more unique and immersive experiences. Also, many major sports stadiums are undergoing a refresh since many are twenty to thirty years old.”
The refresh of sports is being supercharged by recent changes in licensing laws which has seen North America embrace sports gambling in every state, and almost every stadium.
“Baseball, basketball, hockey stadia – they are aligning with a sports betting company to enable live betting. Even Chicago is proposing to have its first real super casino,” says McClimans.
The global heart of this is Las Vegas which Bohs dubs a “video wall dreamscape.”
“From the large LED in front of the casinos to the ever-growing shapes and sizes of sport books walls. Video walls are the wow! factor in every casino but it is also important to deliver information and to keep eyes on the many games, particularly during Super Bowl and March Madness events. With more and more States legalising sports gambling there are plenty of opportunities for AV integrators to install dvLED and LCD walls and visual elements.”
The Command and Control environment in the US held up rather well during Covid with newer technologies bringing the operator and the sources they are monitoring closer together with the video wall and the space.
“C&C is growing everywhere from Security Operation Center monitoring cameras to utilities monitoring power lines,” says Bohs. “They are hiding everywhere in plain sight that only the C&C integrators know where they are. State and local governments are always upgrading and improving their emergency services, and E911 centres are important for response and monitoring.”
Immersed in Las Vegas
Nothing shouts AV or economic buoyancy louder than Las Vegas. Tirado goes as far as saying “it will be the epicentre of new immersive experiences that will transcend the oculus.”
He elaborates: “No one is interested in watching someone else in an immersive environment. We want to experience these things together. It will be transformative because all of the people in the environment will still be able to see each other while they are transported through space and time using AV technologies.”
He points to Las Vegas’ Illuminarium and Worre Studios as examples of how people can be immersed in new XR environments, using high-end graphics servers and videowall technologies – but he might equally be talking about InfoComm which reconvenes at the LVCC next month.
Worre Studios boasts a 25,000 sq ft, 360-degree surrounded 1.9mm LED screen system for hosting business meetings, live TV broadcasts, product launches or concerts.
“Ultimately, XR technologies will also be embraced in collaboration spaces so that people can talk to each other, see each other, and participate together, as if they were there in person.”
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