By Adrian Drury

Ovum interviewed 150 senior IT and production technology executives at major public and private broadcasters in Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific to gain insight into investment priorities for 2011.

More than 20% said they plan to increase their IT and production and distribution technology spend by more than 6% in 2011. Meanwhile a further 31% plan to grow this expenditure by between 1% and 5% over the course of the year. And the trend is set to continue in 2012, as 17% of respondents said they would increase budgets by more than 6%, with 36% saying they would ramp up spending by between 1% and 5%.

Broadcast media markets are benefitting from a strengthening macroeconomic outlook and increased confidence, the near-term defensibility of broadcast advertising models, and opportunities for multi-screen services. This is giving broadcasters the confidence to signal that they will be increasing their technology budgets sequentially over the next two years.

According to the results of the survey, the top strategic technology investment priorities are to achieve further reduction in operational costs through a shift to file-based workflow and automation; the launch of new high-definition (HD) channels; advanced audience measurement and targeted advertising initiatives; exploitation of social media for audience acquisition; and the provision of multi-screen services.

These investment areas represent the strongest opportunities for earnings growth for both pay-TV operators and channel programmers. He believes it will also enable broadcasters to exploit the growth of smartphone and tablet penetration, social media usage and the availability of return path data. The lowest priority for survey respondents across all global regions was the production of 3D broadcast content and the launch of 3D channels.

About the author

Adrian Drury is Ovum principal analyst and author of the cited report. Ovum provides clients with independent analysis, drawing upon over 400,000 interviews a year with business and technology, telecoms and sourcing decision-makers.