PSINovember2018

CCTV
According to the
latest figures, IP and
analogue based
technologies are still
sharing the global
video market
Despite the growing
marketing spend on
pushing AI to the
market place it is still
a technology very
much in its infancy. In
fact it’s not even
reached infancy yet,
it’s still embryonic
Video still a 60/40 market
s reported recently in PSI, figures from IHS
AMarkit show that the world market for
professional video surveillance equipment
grew by 9.3 percent in 2017. This was a higher
rate of growth than in 2016 (3.9 percent) and
2015 (1.9 percent). According to Jon Cropley,
senior principal analyst, video surveillance,
increased government spending on equipment
to fight crime and terrorism was a major factor
in this growth, as was spending on replacing kit
in retail and commercial applications.
Increasing demand for security cameras is
expected in 2018, but a slightly lower of level of
price erosion is also forecast. The combination
of these factors will lead to 10.2 percent growth
in the video surveillance equipment market,
which will reach $18.5 billion in 2018.
Global demand for security cameras grew
rapidly in 2017, but average prices continued to
fall. Nevertheless, revenue grew in most
countries. Accounting for 44 percent of all
global revenue, the Chinese professional video
surveillance equipment market grew by 14.7
percent, while the world market excluding China
grew just 5.5 percent. In addition to these
figures, other key findings include:
• Although it remains highly fragmented
compared to many other markets, the supply
base for professional video surveillance
equipment is gradually becoming more
concentrated. The top 15 vendors accounted for
62 percent of global revenue in 2017.
• 62 percent of all security cameras shipped
in 2017 were network cameras.
• Deep-learning-enabled recorders and
servers, a new category this year, are an
important element in powering what many
expect to be the next generation of video
analytics using artificial intelligence. They
accounted for just one percent of global market
revenues in 2017.
One of the interesting angles to take away
from the data, in our opinion, is that 38% of the
world’s newly manufactured security cameras
last year were analogue. You can understand
this number for a country such as the UK,
thanks to our huge analogue infrastructure, but
unless the UK is responsible for a lot more
cameras than we are aware of, this means that
globally the analogue camera still has a future.
We know that there are a number of options
available for those people who don’t want to, or
feel the need to, go down the IP route.
For example look at the great strides being
made by companies such as Videcon which
offers new lines in both technologies – therefore
not forcing the installer and the customer down
a particular route dictated by the manufacturer.
However on the other hand you have pioneers
like Axis who are adding new IP services, such
as audio, plus other IP camera features to their
network-only portfolio. Both companies are
serving the modern (approx) 60/40 market with
what the customer actually base wants and
continuing to develop new lines in those areas.
This is the best way forward for technology
companies to do business, as opposed to the
one where the manufacturer develops a product
without any buyer interest or requirement to
then face the prospect of selling to a disinterested
crowd. Anyone remember the Sinclair
C5, or the Segway, or CDi, or disk film...?
Another interesting point is that despite the
growing marketing spend on pushing AI to the
market place it is still a technology very much in
its infancy. In fact it’s not even reached infancy
yet, it’s still embryonic with only one percent of
global revenues. Certainly, while the focus of
forward thinkers is that AI is the future, it’s
clearly not the present. Perhaps the industry is
in a state of wait-and-see for deep learning
surveillance systems at the moment. And yes, I
know it’s early days, but when you think that
exhibitors at trade shows have been talking up
AI for a couple of years now, you might expect a
higher figure for all that effort. It may well be
that the market is still struggling to define what
exactly AI is rather than video analytics –
without doubt some of the companies we have
spoken to about the technology are confusing
the two disciplines.
I would expect that in the figures for 2018 we
will see a continued growth in UK camera sales
as cuts in government spending, particularly in
terms of law enforcement, will see the domestic
market continue to take up surveillance as an
option and businesses maintain their support
and adoption of analogue and IP technology.
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