This study of the global live-events industry, conducted by InfoComm and Acclaro Growth Partners, covers trends and dynamics from the perspective of pro-AV rental, staging and live-events service providers in the North American, European, Asia-Pacific, Middle Eastern and Latin American regions.
The study involved extensive interviews with 21 rental and staging/live events service providers globally. The 70-page report takes a comprehensive look at the industry, providing insight on evolving business models, customer expectations, market trends, products, purchasing decisions and go-to-market drivers.
“In the live-events industry, it is all about the consumer and specialization,” said James Chu, Director of Market Research, InfoComm International. “Customers are looking to deliver a more interactive and immersive experience for their audiences. This means more specialization for live-event AV service providers rather than a diversified business model.
- Business Activity: Many rental and events companies report that their customers want to deal with specialists. Almost three-quarters of the companies interviewed for this study believe it is better to specialize in either live events or installed AV, as opposed to diversifying to offer both types of services.
- This marks a considerable shift in the industry from several years ago.
Market Trends and Dynamics: Live-events companies are investing in cutting-edge technologies as a way to differentiate from their competitors. Two of the most prevalent and important themes among study respondents are the growing demand for enhanced visual imagery and a desire to create interactive experiences. In addition, live events are no longer confined to the space in which they are held. With streaming technology, people are able to interact in real time from remote locations.
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Products: The growing complexity of AV systems used in live-events applications is driving spending on signal management and processing products, which makes this one of the fastest growing product categories in the live events industry.
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Purchasing Decisions: When rental and live-events companies invest in equipment, the purchase decision factors vary considerably by geography. In Europe, product quality is the top consideration, while in North America, the technological feature set (combination of innovation, features and customer requirements) is the number one factor. Conversely, in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East, price is the top purchase decision factor.
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Go-to-Market Drivers: Exclusive relationships are important to many live-events firms. In fact, many respondents claim that avoiding bid situations wherever possible is part of their market strategy. Only about one in five live events/rental and staging service providers reports that events are primarily bid out by customers. The majority suggest the process is more often driven by preferred choice of vendor. This is unlike the installed AV side of the business, for which a bid process is commonplace.
InfoComm’s 2015 Live Events Industry Insights Study is now available for purchase, with discounts for InfoComm members. For more information, go here.