A Mixed Year for Low-Latency Professional AVoIP

After a booming year for low-latency professional AVoIP in 2019, when market volumes increased by 42%, 2020 is delivering mixed results. That’s according to a new market report from Futuresource Consulting, which reveals growth rates will drop to 1% this year, yet market share has been captured from non-IP solutions and some verticals have performed well.

“It’s been a year of contrasts and polarisation for low-latency AVoIP markets,” says Kane McKenna, Information Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “Overall, we’ve seen global demand stagnate as COVID-19 took hold across the globe. The Americas and EMEA took the biggest hit while, in contrast, APAC has managed to post significant growth due to a much more effective response to the pandemic.”

The View from the Verticals

“Looking to the verticals, leisure and hospitality has posted a poor performance, which comes as no surprise, whereas healthcare and education have been thriving, growing in shipments by 53% and 33% respectively.

“Healthcare expansion has grown due to the need for enhanced communication between hospital staff, as well as with patients, while reducing movement around the hospital. For education, lecture overflow rooms have demanded equipment capable of seamless two-way communication between students and pupils. And while corporate remains the largest market by volume, growth in that vertical has been very low this year.”

A Time for Teaching the Channel

Prior to 2020, the industry had been voicing widespread concerns about the lack of networking expertise in the AV channel. However, lockdown periods have allowed widespread professional education to take place, and vendors have refocused their efforts on delivering information into the channel.

The increased need for remote maintenance and control is also set to drive AVoIP adoption ahead of non-IP in the future. Although the higher price point of AVoIP when compared with non-IP solutions remains a concern, new chipset releases in 2021 are likely to apply downward pressure to pricing.

The Threat of Video Conferencing

“2020 has also seen the meteoric global rise of video conferencing,” says McKenna. “This could pose a threat to the AVoIP market and limit future growth in the meeting room arena. This is due to companies potentially sidestepping AVoIP and conducting meetings over cloud video solutions instead. However, there are still many benefits of an integrated video codec solution being run over AVoIP. In particular, the quality of the video signal and the enhanced security benefits that can be enjoyed by running the signal over a dedicated network rather than the broad internet.”

For more information on the new low-latency AV over IP report from Futuresource Consulting, get in touch with Ben Thrussell via ben.thrussell@futuresource-hq.com

About the author

Kane McKenna

Kane McKenna is a Research Analyst at Futuresource Consulting and is a member of the Collaboration and Signal Distribution team. He has worked on a broad range of reports covering wireless presentation, conferencing, meeting room, headset, and signal distribution technology. Kane joined Futuresource in January of 2020 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Nottingham Trent University.