IABM: TV industry is recovering
July 28, 2011
By Chris Forrester
With the giant IBC broadcast technology show barely 40 days away, this report from the International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM) is welcome news. The IABM’s 4th edition of its Global Market Valuation and Strategy to 2015, commissioned from IHS Screen Digest, says there will be an average 6 per cent growth within the global broadcast and media technology section from 2009 to 2010, and financial data within the report also indicate that the industry will be growing at about the same rate as GDP by 2015, but there will be annual differences, including some years when it will be below. At this pace, the study suggests, the industry will return to its 2008 size in 2012.
“Our industry, like all others, was badly hit by the recession, but it is encouraging to see how strongly it is recovering,” said Peter White, director general at the IABM. “While times have been very hard and all companies had to make tough decisions, there have been very few casualties in this diversified and specialised business. The industry is seeing a paradigm shift at present, with traditional broadcasting being augmented by online services to the multi-screen consumer, and the London 2012 [Olympic Games] and the and the American political process will both drive this change forward.”