Market trends

Retail e-commerce drives demand for digital visual content as new products need to be photographed and filmed frequently to be published online, for example across the fashion, food, real estate and hospitality industries.

We estimate that c.30% of the Group’s revenue is exposed to retail e-commerce, which we serve with intuitive products used in studios and a growing number of enterprise facilities. This drives demand for our professional photography and videography equipment, including supports, backgrounds, lighting and carrying solutions, mainly benefiting our Media Solutions Division.

Spending on original content creation for subscription TV channels like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ drives demand for our equipment.

In North America, over 50 new sound stages are scheduled for construction in 2024, providing hundreds of thousands of square feet of new production space which will need to be equipped.  And in the UK, numerous projects are either underway or planned to invest in sound stages which will add millions of square feet  of new production space.

We estimate that c.30% of the Group’s revenue is exposed to subscription TV, including: our video transmission and monitoring systems, and camera accessories in Creative Solutions; lighting equipment, mobile power and supports in Production Solutions;  and supports and audio capture in Media Solutions.

There has been significant growth in vloggers and influencers creating and sharing video and audio content on social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. We estimate that there are more than 40 million vloggers (with a following of over 1,000 people) who share and monetise their videos or podcasts. Improving the quality of their content is critical to their success – and that is what Videndum products help them do. 

We estimate that c.10% of the Group’s revenue is exposed to vloggers and influencers who use our JOBY supports, lights and microphones, and our backgrounds to create high-quality content. The JOBY customers of today will potentially transition to Videndum’s other premium brands, as they become the film-makers, broadcasters and professional photographers of the future. 

Live streaming of video has grown strongly across multiple verticals to maintain communications and facilitate remote collaboration.

For example, governments, schools, houses of worship and businesses rely on high-quality, secure, zero or low delay video transmission to communicate with their communities, customers and employees.

This market growth driver accounts for c.5% of the Group’s revenue.

The growing pressure to become a responsible business and  adhere to regulatory environmental policies has led to industrywide replacement cycles, providing Videndum with a number  of opportunities to develop environmentally friendly products.

One example of this is Anton/Bauer’s Salt-E Dog, the first sodium battery designed and built for the motion picture and television industry. Its emission-free operation not only reduces the industry’s carbon footprint but also eliminates noise pollution, and uses 100% recyclable sodium cells, making it an efficient alternative to traditional petrol and diesel generators.

Like any transformational technology, AI brings the opportunity to accelerate product development cycles through innovation.

In cine/scripted TV and broadcast TV, AI is seen as a key enabler to greater production efficiency, particularly through increased automation in studio equipment (cameras, prompting, lighting and cranes) and automated talent tracking, some of which we are already addressing with our Production Solutions Division through our AI tracking and speech recognition technology. In professional photography and live streaming, AI is already empowering faster post-production. These applications provide growth opportunities for Videndum.

There is a risk that over time, some professional photography and low-end videography may be replaced by artificially generated content. Internal studies have identified a potential risk on stock image libraries for commercial application; these are estimated to account for less than 10% of total professional photography being shot. However, AI development is evolving rapidly, and given how new this technology is, these estimates are prone to change significantly both in terms of the size and timing of impact.