Professional Cameras Market Slowly Hobbles with 2K and 4K

Despite being pulled down by rapidly falling prices, the mature global digital broadcast and cinematography camera market will see growth (though marginal). Expansion is driven by continued digitization and the launch of new channels world over, especially in high-definition (HD) and 4K, which requires high-resolution content. Currently, the weak economy stifles profits of most vendors in the market, including large participants such as Sony and Panasonic.  However, the market continues to gain momentum from the digital cinematography camera segment, with continued adoption of higher than HD resolution 2K and 4K cameras. Innovation is the highest in this segment, with vendors such as Red Digital Cinema Camera Company pushing the boundaries with resolution and offering 6K variants, and others such as Canon capturing mind and market share with their DSLR products for shooting HD.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s Global Digital Broadcast and Cinematography Cameras Market analysis, market revenues will reach $811.9 million by 2017. The research finds various trends disrupt the market, including rapid price drops (in some cases, 50-70 percent over a five year period) and increasing blurriness across product segments. This analysis features a market overview, external challenges, forecasts, trends, market shares, and competitive analysis of the total digital broadcast and cinematography cameras market. The research features segment breakdowns for studio cameras, cinematography cameras, electronic news gathering (ENG) cameras, and electronic field production (EFP) cameras.  In addition to a hot company watchlist, the analysis covers Sony, Panasonic, ARRI Group, Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, Grass Valley and other vendors.  

The mature global digital broadcast and cinematography camera market is expected to witness modest growth at a compound annual growth rate of 1.4 percent from 2012 to 2017. Struggling with saturation in demand and restrained capital expenditure in developed countries, the global professional video cameras market saw drastic price cuts over the last three years. Sustaining product development while growing business and securing profits is tough for individual vendors. A significant challenge for the market, especially in the broadcast segment, is lack of a strong next-generation technology that can drive new sales.

On the other hand, the cinema segment rapidly departed from film, replacing it with digital 2K and 4K cameras, as well as file-based workflows. Technology advanced, enabling high quality results at competitive prices. In addition, digital formats helped companies streamline their workflows, reduce budgets, and increase collaboration across locations for faster execution.

Demand for HD and digital cameras in the emerging economies coupled with a broadening customer base helps boost total market revenues to an extent, though there is a clear shift towards small form-factor cameras that offer high-resolution acquisition and wireless capabilities.

“Constant technological innovation can prop up the market,” observed Vidya Nath, Research Director, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan. “For instance, versatile cameras that shoots in multiple formats and resolutions, and triax and fiber supporting cameras that enable quicker transmission of high resolution content fuel productions, leading to more business for professionals in all segments.”Price sensitivity is another market restraint. Frost & Sullivan finds that prices range from $3,000 to $50,000 and the average price for the total market is a little more than $7,700.  While such price drops help push volumes, they restrain total revenue growth and curtail profitability. Also, unless the market provides continued innovation, vendors will find it difficult to sustain growth in penetration.

“Suppliers must be innovative and price-competitive, focusing on customer convenience and evolving to meet the creative demands of professional camera users,” notedNath. “Larger vendors, in particular, must match the strategy of smaller suppliers to widen their market presence. Finding the sweet spot that juxtaposes flexibility, adaptability, form factor and price is crucial for success.”