IABM report charts future of broadcast and media industry

IABM has released a biannual report reflecting on the impact of the coronavirus on the already changing media and broadcast space.

Titled ‘Charting the Uncharted’ – reflecting the enormous upheaval the industry is experiencing - the report is the result of in-depth analysis by IABM’s Business Intelligence Unit of qualitative and quantitative research on the present state and potential future paths for the industry. It is clear, according to the study, that the coronavirus pandemic has compressed fundamental changes that were already slowly underway in the industry into just months or even weeks. The effects of this are far-reaching across every corner of the Broadcast and Media industry, IABM said.

The report was a key area of focus for the IABM’s panel session at IBC SHOWCASE. You can watch the panel here

Inputs used to produce the report include in-depth interviews with media companies and technology suppliers, IABM’s continually updated Coronavirus Impact Tracker, and IABM’s Media Tech Business Tracker. The report identifies the multi-dimensional change that is impacting Broadcast and Media fueled by the move to direct-to-consumer (DTC) business models across the industry. The propellants include the changing role of technology, the move to as-a-service, insourcing and a new generation of IT and environment-aware talent.

The coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns have driven digital subscriptions massively upwards, while traditional Pay-TV and advertising-based business models have been hit hard – especially so in relation to cancelled live sports programming. Stay-at-home mandates have also caused a fundamental shift in working patterns – and massively accelerated the industry’s previously pedestrian progress towards dematerialized operations in the cloud, underpinned by as-a-service technologies and business models.

To survive the storm, traditional broadcasters have moved rapidly to supplement their output with DTC offerings, and to search for the necessary scale to compete with the digital giants through acquisition or consolidation as well as increased investment in content. The move to DTC with its thinner margins also requires increased efficiency and agility, producing a greater focus on business models. Technology has become merely an enabler for those business models, and broadcasters are increasingly turning to insourcing for better control and responsiveness. The new skills required are often being recruited from outside the industry, with traditional broadcast engineering skills becoming less and less in demand.

The Charting the Uncharted report also examines the effects of these changes across each segment of the BaM Content Chain as well as in discrete operational sectors, providing additional insights for companies with products/services in each of these areas. The report can be seen at https://theiabm.org/iabm-special-report-september-2020/

“At a time when we are all working so hard just to keep up with the transformational changes going on all around us, Charting the Uncharted gives us a unique opportunity to stand back and take a look at the bigger picture,” said Peter White, CEO, IABM. “We can measure what are we doing, how we do it, and why are doing it against the whole industry background. I am proud of the fantastic work our Business Intelligence Unit has done in researching and producing the report. Charting the Uncharted is brim full of fact-based insights and I would say it is essential reading for everyone in the industry.”