Altman Solon's Global Film & Video Production Survey | Altman Solon

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the film and television production sector to a halt in early 2020 and pushed crews to implement new strategies, techniques, and technologies to protect those on set. Now nearly two years later, those very capabilities have become key to keeping production in motion, ultimately changing the way movies are made. In order to gain insight into these evolving trends, Altman Solon conducted the Global Film & Video Production Survey, which highlights the emergence of virtual production capabilities, the adoption of cloud-based post-production tools, and the reliance on remote collaboration solutions.

As the pandemic begins to slow, consumer demand for content and global content spend from streamers, moviemakers, and broadcast networks is on the rise, with an estimated market value of $330B by 2027. This growing demand has put a spotlight on new, innovative technologies improving operational efficiencies and keeping up with the content backlog. Nearly 75% of survey respondents agreed that the use of virtual production capabilities will not only increase, but also start to become integrated into production schedules to reduce production cycle times and costs, reflected in their anticipated post-pandemic investment decisions. 

Willingness to test or adopt new technologies to include virtual production, remote collaboration tools, and cloud-based workflows

However, questions still linger for content producers. Early adopters of virtual production technologies are likely to incur higher initial capital costs, however waiting to integrate these capabilities comes with alternative challenges. The pace at which technology evolves will make reskilling, business case development, and change management difficult for later adopters. Consolidation and new market entrants are likely to shape the future of the production technology sector and adoption patterns, amid a fragmented market lacking process standardization.  

Implications:  

• Content spend will continue to increase: The need for shorter production time frames and greater sound stage capacity will not slow down as spending moves towards original content production 
• Increased content pace will push productions to rely on new technologies: Virtual productions, collaborative tools, and cloud technologies will better support the production process
• Limited technical resources and budget constraints for new technology will ease over time: As technology benefits from economies of scale, the amount of reskilling needed on new virtual production processes will be one of the first hurdles to overcome
• End-to-end platforms will enhance seamless collaboration: The transition from point solutions to end-to-end platforms will drive merger and acquisition transactions in the production technology space to integrate and develop broader suites of solutions

Altman Solon conducted a study of the global video production industry in August 2021 to understand production operations, new technologies, and challenges facing the industry as we emerge from the pandemic. The survey included more than 100 industry executives – experts from film and TV studios, production companies, advertising, streaming and OTT, broadcast media, post-production, music, and live entertainment – across productions in 30+ countries, spanning North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. 

Explore the comprehensive survey findings and emerging trends in the Global Film & Video Production Survey. Please submit the form below to receive the full report. 

Thank you to Derek Powell for his leadership on this report.