Professional audiovisual industry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The professional audiovisual industry is a multibillion-dollar industry, comprised of the manufacturers, dealers, systems integrators, consultants, programmers, presentations professionals and technology managers of audio-visual products and services.
[edit] Overview
The proliferation of audio-visual communications technologies, including sound, video, lighting, display and projection systems, is evident in every sector of society: in business, education, government, the military, healthcare, retail environments, worship, sports and entertainment, hospitality, restaurants and museums. The application of audio-visual systems is found in collaborative conferencing (which includes videoconferencing, audioconferencing, webconferencing and dataconferencing); presentation rooms, auditoriums and lecture halls; command and control centers; digital signage, and more. Concerts and corporate events are among the most obvious venues where audio-visual equipment is used in a staged environment. Providers of this type of service are known as rental and staging companies, although they may also be served by an in-house technology team (e.g. in a hotel or conference center).
According to the 2006 Market Forecast Study conducted by InfoComm International, the trade association representing the audio-visual industry, 2006 is the fourth consecutive year that significant growth is projected for the industry. Revenue for surveyed North American companies is expected to grow by 40% in 2006, and by 10.7% for European audio-visual companies. The single biggest factor for this increase is the increased demand for networked audio-visual products due to the integration of audio-visual and IT technology. The two leading markets for AV equipment in North America and Europe continue to be business/IT and education.
