Tuesday, April 8, 2014

AVID, FB, GCI, TWTR: Media-tech industry analysis discussion at 2014 NAB ...

We also attended the media-tech industry analysis and business strategy sessions at the NAB conference.  Participants in this session included: Joshua Stinehour (Silverwood Partners), Joe Zaller (Devoncroft Partners), Sam Blackman (Elemental Technologies), Louis Hernandez, Jr. (AVID), Joop Janssen (EVS), and Michelle Munson (Aspera of IBM).  Below are some of the main points and our takeaways.  
  • Technology is essential to media.  AMBlog: of course, we agree!  And this has been true for a long, long time.
  • Most media companies are stable, growing at a modest rate, and remain profitable. 
  • Tech vendors are working even more closely with media companies.  Expect more consolidation: content creators (the bigger ones) and distributors; and among tech vendors. 
  • The phrase “there is a bubble in technology” is correct but applicable to social media companies such as FB and TWTR.  AMBlog: we’ve been saying this for a while.  We continue to believe those companies and some of their peers are overvalued, even after their recent ‘downturn’ - FB is down 21% since March 10, and TWTR is down 36% since Feb. 4. 
  • Media technology companies are not the ‘bubble’ type.  AMBlog: agreed. 
  • Revenue drivers for tech vendors include: transition to cloud, access to and analysis of content consumption data, HD transition, 4K (or ultra-HD) transition, etc.  AMBlog: agreed. 
  • Number one purchase driver (media companies buying technology) is efficiency.  AMBlog: more evidence that collaboration of workflow and accommodating service/support are becoming more and more important.  And this makes the SaaS model more applicable for software providers in this space, including AVID.  We note that although AVID is now offering its software via a subscription model, it also continues to provide it via perpetual licensing.  Some clients may want to continue to categorize software spending as capex and some may feel comfortable viewing it as a part of their opex.
  • Most ad revenue is still coming in from traditional broadcasting.  AMBlog: one of the reasons GCI remains attractive; in addition to higher recurring and high-margin retransmission revenues which all broadcast companies are now receiving.

1 comment:

  1. This is really fantastic news for AVID TWTR: Media-tech industry analysis Moreover thank you for sharing it with us!

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