IBC Reflections

TV Technology by Tom Butts

The pace of industry consolidation as well as our industry?s move towards IP were never more evident than at last month?s IBC Show in Amsterdam. I had a chance to sit down with several industry leaders to discuss the ways that these changes are affecting how their companies respond to their customers. The three companies represent a good cross section of our industry, from creative to production to distribution. Another distinguishing characteristic is that the leaders have been at the helm for less than two years.

Louis Hernandez, Jr., president of Avid, came from outside television and has had about 18 months to assess where it?s going. As leader of what is arguably the largest provider of content creation technology in our industry, Hernandez knows the challenges that go with creating the kind of content consumers expect these days but he also thinks we could be working much more efficiently.

?This industry is so fragmented,? he said. Drawing a comparison to an industry in which he was involved in before coming to Avid, he said that banking is three times larger than media but has a third fewer vendors. ?But the main thing,? he adds, ?is that out of the 10 segments that consume technology, only media has it where the top 10 vendors take up less than half of the market.? His conclusion? ?We?re a lot less concentrated in our vendor community so we spend a lot more time just putting all the pieces together.?

Hernandez adds that while consumption of rich media assets is ?going through the roof,? there?s also more pressure on Avid?s business model, because ?it?s easier for anybody to create.? read more...