Succeeding in Perilous Times

These are perilous times.

There has never been a better time to tell stories with video. High-quality gear is more affordable, while low-cost world-wide distribution options abound. Even better, there is a vast audience hungry for visual stories.

But, when it comes to making money on the stories we create – that’s an entirely different matter. The high-end will always exist along with the money that goes with it. At the low-end, YouTube has defined a new market with vast reach, but not a lot of revenue. YouTube is great if you are a solo artist, but not so much for companies. It’s the middle of the market, where the revenue is enough to create companies and feed families, that is disappearing. Those of us in the middle are worried; worried about whether our business, even our part of the industry, will survive.

The rate of change in production and post is challenging. Challenging in terms of audience viewing behaviors, challenging in terms of collapsing budgets, challenging in terms of technological change, challenging in terms of how clients use video, challenging in terms of shrinking deadlines and expanding competition. Our industry abounds with challenges.

Recently, the NAB Show reached out to the Digital Production Buzz because the NAB was seeing the same issues in the market. So,  they asked if they could work with us to help address some of these issues. We were delighted to say Yes!

As we talked, I realized that the NAB Show is the only event that has a vested interest in the success of our entire industry. Unlike a particular vendor who creates products for a specific customer base, the NAB Show succeeds when our entire industry is doing well.

This is one of the reasons The Buzz is pleased to be working with the NAB – we both want our industry to do well. And, with the world-wide audience of The Buzz, we are happy to help get the word out.

To this end, we created a new segment on the show called “NAB Insight.” This weekly segment talks with insiders at the NAB, along with conference speakers and thought leaders, to learn what each of us can do to help cope with the changes we are going through.

On their end, the NAB is creating a series of “Birds of a Feather” sessions, free to everyone who attends the show. “Birds of a Feather” is a series of themed, hosted, non-commercial gatherings at the NAB Show that bring together subject matter experts and community members to connect, collaborate and innovate about a hot topic of mutual interest. Events are interactive and conversational but can also include talks and panels. They are free to host and free to attend.

Here’s a link to learn more.

Each week, as part of “NAB Insight,” we also want to focus on the free sessions at NAB. While all of us know the value of the trade show – and the content at the NAB Conference is legendary – sometimes the cost of the Conference may be out of reach. At The Buzz we want to highlight events worth attending that won’t cost extra. Those, too, will be part of “NAB Insight.”

The annual NAB Show is always a pivotal moment when, as an industry, we all get together to try to figure out where the future is taking us. Our “NAB Insight” segments are designed to give you a heads-up on the sessions you really need to attend.

We began them last week, by interviewing Chris Brown, Executive Vice-President for Conferences and Business at the NAB. Chris and his team plan and execute all three NAB trade shows. Here’s the link to his interview. He provides insight into how the NAB Show views the market and plans the show, along with the new sessions they are offering this year that are free to all of us.

“NAB Insight.” Each week, from now until NAB in April, on the Digital Production Buzz. Listen here.