Six months into the pandemic, broadcaster ad revenues are down, cord-cutting is up, and that a lack of live sports has seriously impacted the market. There’s little doubt that media company revenue shortfalls will likely impact spending on media technology products and services.
Against this backdrop, government stimulus programs designed to support small businesses are winding down (the vast majority of media tech suppliers fall into this definition), and the return of major college sports is looking dubious (recording was completed prior to the cancellation of several college football conference seasons).
There are equal amounts of disagreement and agreement across multiple topics subjects including the future of trade shows, supplier business models, viability of managed service providers, customer budgets, commercialization of lower tier sporting events, and supplier profitability levels.
To focus in on the business and commercial impact of COVID-19 on the media technology sector, we thought it would be useful to revisit our earlier discussion on this topic.
The beginning of August has brought media company earnings announcements showing significant revenue decreases, an impending conclusion to various government assistant programs, and a new round of sporting events experiencing postponements and cancellations, among other decidedly negative announcements in the media sector. (We recorded prior to – though in anticipation of – the cancellation announcements for several college football conferences).
To offer the audience a more lively discussion, the Devoncroft team engages in a spirited debate. Joe starts the podcast with the review of several dire data points, including excerpts from several recent executive interviews, and then candidly identifies the likely negative impact to suppliers. It is then the task of Josh to attempt to convince Joe of the opposite: why there is a reasonable argument for an optimistic outlook for the sector.
There are equal amounts of disagreement and agreement by the Devoncroft team across several subjects including the future of trade shows, supplier business models, viability of managed service providers, customer budgets, commercialization of lower tier sporting events, and supplier profitability levels. We hope you enjoy the back-and-forth.
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