As price points of what were once referred to as “broadcast” products continue to fall, manufacturers of professional video equipment are starting to cater more and more to the wider “AV” market. This market, with its myriad verticals, is growing globally and is only just starting to embrace professional grade video on a large scale.
There are a number of reasons for this, but the unifying factor is simply that society is demanding more and more video content, particularly on social media. Think about how much video we see these days. No longer is video limited to television screens: with digital signage, social media and content embedded in websites, video is now inescapable and is an integral part of our society. This is especially true with today’s mobile technology, as smartphones allow us to have video in our pockets at all times.
In addition to this, the availability of professional video tools at low price points and a distribution platform open to anyone, the Internet, means that the production and distribution of video has never been easier.
Video is therefore becoming increasingly important to a huge range of verticals beyond the traditional broadcast markets. Video conferencing in the corporate world, distance learning and lecture capture in education, medical training, visual radio, houses of worship, bars and nightclubs, sports clubs, gyms – these are just some of the verticals and applications where significant growth in demand for video is being seen.
Over the past ten years, where these markets have required improved levels of quality in their video production they have mostly turned to pro camcorders, which is one of the reasons why the sub $2,500 segment has been so important. In H1 2017, this segment accounted for 63% of global pro camcorder volumes.
