United States. Lower revenues, reduced capital expenditures, reduced operating expenses and difficulty obtaining financing were some of the main effects experienced by the industry during the economic downturn.
This was recently revealed by the International Association of Broadcast Monitors, IABM, as part of the 2011 IAB End User Server, a market research program carried out during the two most important fairs in the sector: CIB 2010 and NAB Show 2011, in order to know the opinions of transmitters and other visitors regarding the world situation.
In a sample of more than 1,000 attendees at each of the fairs, about 90% of respondents, mostly belonging to the transmission, production and post-production networks, agreed that this period changed their business model: "Broadcasters and content creators have the need to develop new monetization methods to explore content and new sources of income." In addition, they questioned that the Internet, considered a great opportunity for traditional transmitters, is also interpreted as the greatest threat to them, due to the tools that this platform offers to end users.
Similarly, in terms of procurement methods, the sample showed that more than two-thirds of respondents make significant efforts to ensure the viability of the purchases they make, putting value for money as the main requirement demanded of suppliers; in addition to better support and connectivity.
Thus, in terms of investments in technology, they stressed that the logic of the projects and in particular the integration of the systems of different manufacturers, are their main priorities. In general, "creating new business, improving operational efficiency and making more profitable use of resources" are the most relevant objectives described by respondents in a ranking that left storage as the primary element when thinking about new acquisitions, followed by HD, processing and editing of audio and video, cameras and the new deployment of media: web, mobile, etc.
The study also revealed that as sources of information, when making purchasing decisions, companies prefer fairs and congresses, followed by personal contacts with suppliers, websites, personal contacts in other companies, experts, suppliers of literature, specialized press articles, advertisements in specialized media, Internet search engines, seminars, webinars and round tables, integrators, consultants, blogs, newsletters, podcasts and social networks.
Finally, looking to the future, buyers attending CIB 2010 and NAB Show 2011 agreed that their companies require suppliers to offer them innovative products, better support for existing products and better connectivity.
