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Avid says No to NAB 2008
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[walter biscardi] “I honestly pay no attention to movies because that’s not my market. And as you say, 400 major movies. That’s a pittance compared to thousands upon thousands of projects created for all the television networks and stations each year. I’d rather concentrate my efforts on those projects that try to land one high profile movie. That single movie won’t earn us the same income as the almost 200 projects we will complete this year alone.”
Yes, I agree with you 100% in your situation, Walter. My point was that these 400 movies represent Sony Imageworks, Dreamworks SKG, Paramount and many, many others who buy huge infrastructures — systems that bring massive purchases to Avid.
I also agree with you that in the world of smaller shops and indie producers, Final Cut FAR exceeds the incursion of systems hailing from Avid’s Tewksbury, Massachusetts shipping address.
No argument from me there. ;o)
And am I saying that Avid’s strategy is a shoe-in for success or that I think they will be a dominant player always in the days ahead? I really don’t know. If they play their cards well and make the right moves, they could be. But if they don’t serve their core market as well as they have to date, they could become a thing of the past.
It all remains to be seen as the big and little hands on the clock go round and round…
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net
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… besides YouTube’s video Editing partnership already seems to be with Adobe. (“Remixer-powered by Adobe Premier Express”)
https://www.youtube.com/ytremixer_about
Yes, it’s not a full fledged editor, but then again, youtube is not the same as your HD Home theater either.
I think Avid is simply making a cost decision based on valid market research data. It’s simply easier for customers to make contact with company reps and find out specific product news than it used to be, which makes those customers who normally attend NAB for those reasons, less likely to attend. If Avid’s purpose of having a visible presence at NAB is connecting with current and future purchasers (notice I said “purchasers”, not “users”, they have several options available these days.
CBS is not attending the National Association of Television Programming Executives (NATPE) conference this year. Traditionally, the NATPE conference has been touted as “the place where distribution deals are born”. CBS simply feels that they don’t have a need to put that kind of money into the NATPE convention this year. Where are they putting the money they saved? They are trying their best to get a jump on their competition in figuring out how to how to “monetize” web distribution of their content.
I see Avid’s situation as similar. Like many vendors of whatever product, they are simply trying to focus their limited marketing resources on connecting with the specific portion of their customer base that will provide the most return on investment. Just like everyone else, they are trying to avoid spending time on the grinders and more on the folks who will actually give them increased revenue streams.
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Since I am an adviser for CNN (New York), I can definitely say that FCP is increasingly coming into play. But, a majority of the prime-time shows and documentaries are still using Avid.
I was also with ABC over the summer and NO ONE wants to even consider FCP, PPRO or any other editing system. ABC’s entire news network is connected with Avid. Heck, the people that are editing 30 second sound bites are also using Avid.
And, to those that say that Avid is losing money, you are correct as well. Take a look at their income statement:
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=AVID&annual
Their net income has been reducing over the past couple of years. However, their revenues are UP. A majority of their cost is coming from “cost-of-revenue,” and not going to trade shows will certainly reduce this cost.
Here is some further analysis about NAB, Avid, and resulting sales:
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=AVIDSee anything different with the quarter ended Jun. 30?
Here are 2 observations: a) cost of revenue is up, resulting in a net loss and b) sales are the second lowest amongst the 4 quarters.
I think that this indicates that NAB really made NO difference in their bottom line!
I think that this is a great move by Avid. This year, I was at NAB to purchase a few things for my local studio, but we already knew what we wanted to purchase and had done our research. We could have easily gone to B&H, purchased the items and avoided the entire Vegas trip (hassle).
premiere@asvideoproductions.com
https://www.asvideoproductions.com/techtalk -
“We all know that Apple are good at creating a buzz around their product range. But does this really help you Ben when you are editing?”
Most of the spectators at the Apple booth are there because they like the products – they work well, are reasonably intuitive and, more importantly, they are cheap so many more people can get in on the action. With Avid, you can’t even step up to the plate with less than $100k to work with, and their entire system is propped up on a code base that is what, almost 15-20 years old? Not to start a FCP vs. Avid debate here, but Avid doesn’t generate much excitement for the average trade show attendee because it is overpriced and not FOR the mainstream, average editor. Apple’s success isn’t based on unwarranted hype and marketing, it’s based on accessibility, which is key to having a good showing at a trade show.
I would wager that the vast majority of Avid’s current business is made up of long-term customers from back in the early days of computer-based editing, who are so used to Avid (and the name being synonymous with high-end editing) that they are hesitant to move to other products. Avid seems to be banking on a small set of dedicated users to keep them going. Based on this, there really isn’t much need for them to hit the big expensive trade shows.
In some ways it does point to a downturn for them, if only because it highlights what an “elite” system it is, so elite in fact that average purchasers don’t frequent their booths enough to justify the expense. If they can’t get younger editors to use their products, they lose. Unfortunately the only way to do that is to stop charging $900 per hard drive and $150,000 for a piece of software who’s next competitor charges $1,299.
But that’s just my 2 cents.
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[walter biscardi] “[Ron Lindeboom] “Already gone are a long list of shows like Showbiz Expo (that had been a Hollywood cornerstone for years and years), gone also are the NY DV Show and LA DV Show, Videomaker gave up their show a few years back, the DVD Tech Expo is gone, DV Expo is a 20% to 25% of what it once was at its peak, Siggraph continues to get smaller and smaller each year, NAB is shrinking in both size and importance, and the list could go on and on…”
I personally think all of these other shows realized that there’s really no need for any other trade show than NAB in the States. I also believe most of the companies who were on the show floors realized this too. “
Precisely, NAB had a good thing and a lot of up and comers came along and saturated the market.
[walter biscardi] ”
NAB will most definitely shrink in size, but it is the one show that “if I can only go to one show this year” it’s going to be NAB. There’s nothing else like it (except IBC) where you can truly see just about everything in one location. “I was just looking at the stats on nab attendance for 2007 and it is about 108,000, about the same as when I last attended in 2000.
Since the early days of the acceptance of computers into the video editing environment the market has changed immensely. Every Joe Blow who has been laid off a the local TV station has a FCS and is competing in the same market place. The 400 or so movies in production has to compete for it’s market share of viewers who are now producing their own content (docs, shorts,youtube etc.) The masses are less and less content to watch make believe action movies for entertainment and are focusing more and more on real world issues that confront us daily.
I think Avid like a lot of companies just has to tighten it’s belt. Most companies traditionally did NAB AND road shows. Road shows are nothing new for anyone. I think Avid should have just scaled down their booth but continued a presence at NAB.
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[Aanarav Sareen] “And, to those that say that Avid is losing money, you are correct as well. Take a look at their income statement:
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=AVID&annual
Their net income has been reducing over the past couple of years. However, their revenues are UP. A majority of their cost is coming from “cost-of-revenue,” and not going to trade shows will certainly reduce this cost.”
380 Million on ‘Research Development’ in the last three years. That’s a lot of money. Assuming some of that went to market research – Avid is right where it planned to be…apparently.
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Oh please, Rennie…
Who in the heck said that NAB was DEAD???
Sheesh.
What I said was that NAB is becoming increasingly irrelevant as a means of marketing for SOME companies, Avid being one and the COW another.
You seem fit to prove that the only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions.
I have talked to more than a few companies who have written me following the publishing of this letter and they have been largely quite favorable, by far.
That said, if you wish to try to put words in my mouth, at least read what was said and use my words, okay???
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
creativecow.net
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[Timothy J. Allen] “CBS simply feels that they don’t have a need to put that kind of money into the NATPE convention this year.”
In light of this kind of thinking, one of the department heads from ABC — I don’t want to use his name without his permission — wrote me today and said that “…I agree with your point of view. I go to NAB each year but never feel like it does a whole lot of good.” (His words, not mine.)
A friend had forwarded the COW Newsletter to him and he wrote me asking to subscribe him as he liked what he read.
:o)
Sometimes, outspoken is good.
Kathlyn and I hope all is well with you and the family, Timothy.
Best regards,
Ron Lindeboom
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[Ron Lindeboom] “Avid is taking it a step farther, insuring that their customers see what they need to see…
This is an approach that Avid found to be extremely successful in Europe -
Well as an Avid licensee, once rabid supporter and now disgruntled user, I can only say this: I don’t care whether Avid attends NAB, does road shows, or sells out of the back of panel vans with the guys who do velvet paintings of Elvis. All I care about is whether their products actually WORK!
When you lose a whole day and a half of editing because their P2 consolidation workflow is precisely 180 degrees out of phase with what you would and should expect to do, then your software has problems. Until Avid fixes some of its software issues (I mean real engineered fixes and not half-a$$ed workarounds that users have to discover for themselves!), Avid should forget marketing and concentrate on making their products at least as bug-free as Premiere Pro 2.0!
The P2 problem is a real doozie! If you consolidate linking the master clips to the media on the target drive and try to consolidate from other P2 cards in the same bin later (as was the situation I recently encountered), the first set of consolidated master clips loses their links to the media on the target drive and returns to pointing at the P2 card reader!!!
When that happens, any previously consolidated media suddenly appears “offline” even though the media still exists on the target drive!
When I had a project that had 9 x 8gb P2 cards, plus media on a 60gb P2 storage drive, consolidating a second set of cards would cause all the media from the storage drive and previous cards to go offline!
It wasn’t until halfway through a second day of editing that I finally got an answer from broadcast support: don’t link master clips to media on the target drive!
OK, so if that workflow doesn’t work, why the hell is it not only an option, but the most logical of the two options provided for consolidating P2 media?!?!?
Want another Avid issue? Under General settings, selecting “NTSC has setup” causes the application to add setup (7.5% black) to incoming video. That’s fine if you’re bringing DV material in that possesses no setup. But when your Mojo is hooked up to a broadcast Sony SX deck with a TBC on the analog outputs that already adds setup, suddenly your video has 15% setup, not 7.5%!!!
I wrote Avid once and suggested that simply changing the wording on the setting from “NTSC has setup” to “NTSC needs setup” would go a lot farther in actually explaining what their software is doing when that option is selected! That suggestion was made at least two years ago, and as of this writing, nothing has been done to fix this!
How ’bout a Pan & Zoom plug-in that is such a memory hog, using it is likely to cause your Avid DNA device to stop working, forcing a shutdown of the entire program and reset of the Mojo or Adrenaline!!! I can run Combustion 4.0 rendering in the background and capture and edit with Avid in the foreground and not run into the kind of memory problems Avid has WITH ITS OWN PLUG-INS!!!
Avid is full of these kinds of traps and pitfalls that simply don’t exist in other applications. If Avid is in trouble, it’s because the marketing guys promise features and performance that the engineering guys can’t deliver. And – until fairly recently – their customer support and service was abysmally bad, too.
Sorry for the rant. Didn’t mean to hijack the thread, but I work with craptastic Avid Newscutters every day and am frequently left wondering how I’m actually going to get my work done. If my experience is any barometer for other people’s experiences with Avid, then Avid should stay away from NAB and any other potential customer until they get their stuff together!
Just my $.02.
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