Market report: Manufacturers Making it work
After some signs of resurgence in 2012, the positive mood in the pro-audio manufacturer community continues this year with a robustly upbeat market report, writes David Davies
CORE MARKET DATA Maintaining the pre-eminence achieved in several previous reports, China again emerged as one of the three leading countries in which manufacturers expect to achieve growth this year. No wonder: predicted GDP growth for 2013 of 7.5% (source: Goldman Sachs) might be down considerably on the pre-global crash years, but it still makes China look pretty attractive. Also featuring in 30% of respondents’ lists of their top
Nexo STM speakers flown in the familiar but always spectacular setting of the Royal Albert Hall
M1: REGIONAL SPLIT
UK........................60% Spain.....................15% Germany ...............10% Italy .......................10% Netherlands............5%
M2: MARKET SECTORS BY MANUFACTURER
Speakers/amps....53% Consoles ................11% Processors..............5% Mics/headphones...4% Other....................27%
SURVEYING THE data collected for this year’s audio manufacturers’ market report, PSNLive couldn’t help but alight on a very cheering statistic. Nothing short of a full house – 100% of companies surveyed expect their own businesses to grow in full calendar year 2013. Well, you can’t beat a bit of unabashed optimism, can you, especially in these strange old days…
The good news is that this
spot of sunshine is by no means the only one to be found in this year’s manufacturers’ report. After 2012’s survey – one which appeared to reflect some
12 l PSNLIVE 2013
slow-motion impact resulting from several years of a flatlining European economy – this year’s report strongly indicates that manufacturers are feeling positive and pressing ahead with new, often bold product developments. Unsurprisingly, the
pro-audio stronghold of the UK is again well-represented among this year’s group of respondents, the full breakdown of which can be seen in Graph M1. And, as in previous years, loudspeaker/ amplifier manufacturers constitute the most sizable individual group of participants, followed by console makers (M2).
A couldn’t-be- more-emphatic 100% of companies forecasted an increase in their own sales for calendar year 2013
M3: EXPECTED GROWTH AREAS
10 15 20 25 30
0 5
three predicted growth countries are India – expected to register a GDP rise of 6.7% this year according to the World Bank – and traditional pro-audio heartland Germany, where concerns are actually growing once again about the country’s fiscal prospects with the Bundesbank recently dropping its 2013 forecast to a none-too- scintillating 0.4%. The other nations included in the BRIC grouping – Brazil and Russia – also figure prominently, featuring in 25% and 20% of respondents’ selections respectively. There may be more surprise, however, at the news that only 10% of manufacturers cited Asia in general (M3). Last year, in one of the more
troubling results, a mere 20% of respondents said that they expected the overall European live audio business to increase during the calendar year. Underlining the more upbeat nature of this year’s responses, that figure has doubled this year, with only 5% (vs 28% in 2012) forecasting a decline (M4). Participating companies were
then invited to focus on their own prospects. As mentioned at the top of this piece – and
www.psneurope.com
% of manufacturers China
Germany India Brazil USA Russia France
Asia (generally) Belgium Indonesia Scandinavia South America Rest of World
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