MediaTech Spotlight: ISE 2023

MediaTech Spotlight: ISE 2023

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MediaTech Radar

February 2023

MediaTech Radar is a monthly newsletter put together by IABM’s Head of Knowledge Lorenzo Zanni. It focuses on a spotlight topic in MediaTech and reflects on a series of past, present, and future business developments in the industry. In this edition, our spotlight topic is ISE 2023.

MediaTech Spotlight: ISE 2023

A spotlight topic in MediaTech.

  • I attended Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2023 on 31 January and 1 February 2023, as the show returned to its usual dates – it was held in May last year. This event is always a good mirror of MediaTech convergence as it features the application of various audio-visual (AV) technologies in multiple non-media industries such as corporate and education. For anyone interested in making historical parallels, I dedicated a MediaTech Spotlight last year’s show as well. However, I would like to focus here on the main highlights from the latest show.
  • Attendance: ISE attendance was 58.1K, up by 33% from last year – you can see last year’s MediaTech Spotlight on ISE for a historical analysis on attendance. Although attendance was inevitably higher due to the timing of the show being farther away from the worst pandemic days, it felt like there was some organic growth contributing to its expansion as well – more on this below. The show looked very busy, particularly on Wednesday when crowds queued for 30-60 mins to enter the venue – this was one of the major pain points in an otherwise good experience for visitors. This may have been caused by a lack of enough entry points. Finally, physical badges made a comeback at this year’s show, as digital badges were not particularly liked by exhibitors last year – both a physical and a digital badge were compulsory to enter the venue, which may have exacerbated the speed of entry.
  • Location: Anecdotal feedback on the location was overwhelmingly positive. The Fira Gran Via in Barcelona is a very big venue (it is 198,500 m2 vis-à-vis the 112,200 m2 of the RAI in Amsterdam), making the navigation experience more “relaxed” for visitors compared to other locations. Most seemed to be happy about staying in Barcelona as well (I certainly was, as it meant no travel for me), particularly as everyone was provided with a free transport ticket to easily move around the city (a sustainable choice as well).
  • Exhibition: The exhibition was organized in different Technology Zones as last year, with technology used in specific sectors grouped in the same hall. This organization helps navigation and trendspotting for visitors. Hall 2 and 3, dedicated to Residential & Smart Building and Multi-Technology respectively, were arguably the busiest halls. If I had to create a word cloud based on the messages I saw in these two halls, it would have the word “hybrid” standing out from the others. Many companies showcased their solutions for hybrid experiences in sectors such as conferencing, events, and education. “Hybrid,” along with other words such as “immersive” and “data,” definitively represented a growing trend at the show across different halls. Hall 5 was also dedicated to Multi-Technology (as hall 3), though it continued to increasingly look like the broadcast technology hall. This Hall featured broadcast technology used in non-media markets such as KVMs, with trends such as the transition to IP networking remaining a clear driver for these products. However, this hall also began to incorporate streaming platforms for hybrid events and virtual production for corporate content capture.
  • Trends: I believe that the drivers of ISE attendance are here to stay. As I highlighted in my presentation on MediaTech Convergence delivered in the Content Production & Distribution Summit at the event, trends such as the continuation of hybrid experiences and the increasing use of video in corporate communications are catalysts for convergence. And by this, I mean convergence between non-media technology and MediaTech. There were more signs of this at the show – including the launch of the Content Production & Distribution Summit exploring this trend. As noted earlier, Hall 5 remains a good benchmark for measuring the progress of MediaTech convergence. It featured more exhibitors, though less traffic than some of the other halls. Some MediaTech suppliers highlighted the need for educating ISE buyers in high-end MediaTech, which is a potential area for improvement. Though, they will also have to build technology that is more versatile and usable to attract them, as I highlighted in my presentation at the Summit. The ubiquity of collaboration tools such as Teams, Zoom and Meet throughout the show, and particularly in halls 2 and 3, reflected a greater penetration of these systems in AV workflows, though it still seemed like most have yet to figure out how to make hybrid experiences work at their best for users. I noticed a greater focus by some suppliers on engagement through interactivity, and immersion in a few cases, to improve these experiences. There was still talk about supply chain disruption, a macro trend affecting most technology sectors. Although this seems to have improved due to adaptation by suppliers, it is a trend that should stay with us this year. The recent buzz around ChatGPT and generative AI drove interest in AI/ML though, apart from this, there was real focus on data and analytics by exhibitors in most halls. This reflected the progress done in this area and the increasing importance of data in AV workflows, as data capabilities were highlighted in most booths. Finally, the show featured much more virtual production, which is a testament to the growth of this activity in the last few years.

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A watchlist of selected past, present and future business developments in MediaTech.

Thank you for reading this newsletter. If there are topics you would like me to cover or have information/ideas you’d like to share, please get in touch with us.

Lorenzo Zanni

Head of Knowledge

IABM

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