IBC
article here
There is expected to be a significant presence of vendors and executives with at least one foot in media and entertainment – a sector which is now fuelling Pro AV growth, according to trade body and ISE show co-organiser AVIXA.
Its latest figures (in Industry
Outlook and Trends Analysis) indicate Pro AV revenues totalled $325 billion
in 2024 and will add $98bn over the next five years to reach $422bn. While
office upgrades and evolution continue, what AVIXA calls the ‘experience
economy’ is dominating growth.
“Technologies supporting conferencing and collaboration
within enterprises are not performing as well as those positioned for
entertainment and events,” noted Sean Wargo, VP Market Insight, AVIXA.
After slumping during the pandemic, the ‘experience economy’ has regained its
strong position. From 2024 to 2029, global revenue for venues and live events
will grow to $57.2bn, at a 6.3% CAGR, making it the fastest-growing vertical according
to AVIXA.
“Anything related to in-person entertainment is growing
fast,” said Wargo. “This includes content production and streaming, also known
as broadcast AV.”
Broadcast AV (or AV Broadcast) is a category of media tech
products and services sold to buyers outside the traditional market of
broadcasters, operators, streaming services and live production.
Latest research from Caretta indicates that overall growth in
AV Broadcast was 5.3% in 2024 compared to just 1.8% for broadcast and media
companies. That trend is set to continue with AV broadcast growing by 3.5% a
year versus 2.2% for broadcast and media between now and 2028.
“The $85bn media and technology market is slow growing, with
$72bn of that still going to traditional broadcast buyers, leaving around $15bn
going to buyers in corporate, education, government, sports clubs and
federations, and performing arts,” said Tom Morrod, Caretta’s Research
Director.
Broadcast and media industry trade body IABM continues its
partnership with ISE where it supports the AV Broadcast Summit conference programme.
More than half of IABM member company revenues were generated by parallel
markets such as corporate, education and religion in 2023.
“Everyone has their own definition of what a broadcaster is but
one of the best statements I've heard is to think about potential customers and
prospects as content-rich organisations,” said Chris Evans Head of Knowledge
& Insight, IABM addressing an audience at IBC 2024. “Corporations like
fashion houses and banks are already producing content and are in the market
for professional media systems to help them organise, manage and monetise it.”
The IABM has also joined forces with AVIXA to run
conferences outside of the two trade shows where members of both parties can
benefit. Dan Goldstein, CMO, AVIXA, explained, “The almost universal adoption
of online collaboration tools at the enterprise level has meant that expertise
in content, production, streaming, and related broadcast tools has become an
integral part of the AV professional skillset.”
Darren Whitehead, IABM Director of Sales and Marketing,
confirmed that IABM members are increasingly looking to adjacent markets for
opportunities, “particularly in the enterprise AV sector, which has grown
rapidly and now uses all the same technology and tools that were previously the
reserve of broadcasters.”
There’s very little difference in the technology between
broadcast and corporate use cases. Arguably it is one of scale, though if
Taylor Swift were to live stream any of her Eras tour concerts as pay-per-view
it would require as robust a subscriber onboarding process and failsafe content
delivery network as any Super Bowl.
“The fact is content can be made much more cheaply than ever
before,” said Ciarán Doran, chair of ISE’s AV Broadcast Summit. “You no longer
need a five-camera set up in central London. You can make content look as if it
were shot anywhere in the world, you can produce more flexibly using talent
wherever they are.”
Pulling a leaf out of IBC’s playbook, for the first time at
ISE there will be an Esports Arena which will host live action from esports’
professionals streamed on Twitch as well as a series of presentations about
this rapidly growing area of live entertainment.
Visitors can also check out a working TV studio on site
which will produce and stream four episodes of AVIXA TV across social media
platforms.
“Visitors should expect broadcast-quality solutions tailored
for end-users from non-conventional verticals such as corporate, education, and
house of worship, as well as whole integrated systems rather than individual
products,” advised Joyce Wang, analyst at Futuresource Consulting.
Vendors are expected to showcase more software and cloud
broadcast solutions, such as video production switchers, at ISE. “Issues
associated with software and cloud products that often concern broadcasters,
such as latency, are not normally regarded as significant problems for users in
non-traditional verticals,” Wang added. “The easy set-up and deployment of
software and cloud products, not requiring hardware investment, and using an
Op-ex model make software and cloud solutions attractive to Pro AV end-users.”
AVoIP
growth and fragmentation
The industry trend towards convergence means removing
unnecessary legacy barriers not only between broadcast and Pro AV but between
IT and video production. At ISE, expect fresh advances in standards-based
video-over-IP (AVoIP).
“While the market is experiencing rapid technological
advancements, driven by the continuing global shift towards remote and hybrid
working, it is also dealing with inflation, increased interest rates and
political turbulence,” said Kateryna Dubrova, Senior Market Analyst,
Futuresource.
The AVoIP market can be separated between 1Gbps and 10Gbps
solutions. 1G remains dominant, due to a combination of relatively low cost and
sufficient performance for most standard deployments while 10G is an essential
component of some high-end applications. Futuresource expects both to continue
to coexist.
“1G satisfies the mass market, where lower bandwidth
requirements and ease of integration are vital considerations,” said Dubrova.
“Meanwhile, 10G offers superior performance, including higher bandwidth and
better image quality, though it remains niche and expensive. These premium solutions
are primarily used in healthcare, advanced corporate settings and large-scale
entertainment venues. It is in these environments where 10G’s high-speed and
low-latency capabilities are critical.”
AVoIP standardisation is deemed essential, yet the lack of
unification is leading to a fragmented landscape, with different standards like
SDVoE, HDBaseT, NDI and IPMX each finding their niche. The latter two are
protocols with which broadcast users will be most familiar. The standout
difference is that NDI uses a compression scheme designed to maximise
efficiency over a 1G network while IPMX is an adaptation of SMPTE standard 2110
and uses 10G and 25G networks to carry higher bitrates.
AI underpins ISE’s showcase
Unsurprisingly the buzzword for ISE 2025 will be AI. “AI
will reshape Pro AV by bringing smart automation to security, surveillance, and
life safety,” AVIXA declared. “Artificial intelligence impacts virtually every
market that leverages integrated AV solutions and underpins nearly every
technology showcased at ISE.”
The tech is one of five mega trends identified by the trade
body as driving the industry forward.
“AI applications such as AI-powered video captioning and
video editing, as well as camera auto-tracking and auto-framing, can help
people with limited video production and camera operation experiences easily produce
high-quality content,” Wang noted.
Digital analyst and author Brian Solis will lead on AI for
the show’s opening keynote. He will say that all jobs from the C-suite down
will be impacted, but he will underline the importance of using human skills “such
as curiosity, imagination, and creativity” to explore AI’s potential.
No comments:
Post a Comment