AVIXA’s Latest Impact Says Pro AV Industry Pessimism Has Bottomed Out

AVIXA’s latest weekly Impact Survey on the pro AV industry in the midst of the pandemic and recession suggests the levels of pessimism have bottomed out.

The top takeaways from the past week:

• Overall, survey respondents feel the same this week as they did the week before.
• New, limited data indicates some companies have seen work returning.
• Several cite loan assistance for helping their companies weather the storm.
• Some are looking ahead and thinking about what might be different when the industry begins to see its way past the pandemic.

Generally speaking, for the first time since AVIXA™ Market Intelligence began fielding the COVID-19 Impact Survey, perceptions of the pandemic’s effect have gotten no worse. They haven’t improved significantly, either. If anything, sentiment appears to have plateaued — at least for the week.

Said one AV provider in the survey fielded April 21–22, “We seem to be somewhere in the acceptance phase of grief, fully aware that we have very little true control over when the switch is turned back on. We have shifted some of our focus to engaging our employees most affected by the realities of the industry, while also looking into options to retool the company in light of what the industry will become upon restart.”

This week, the percentage of AV end users and AV providers indicating that the pandemic has negatively impacted their company’s business held steady at 67% and 79%, respectively.

It’s worth noting, based on the impact figures just mentioned, that a significant share of respondents says — and has said since the survey began — that they have seen no impact from the pandemic. (The survey allows respondents to say they have been positively impacted, and although some respondents say so, their numbers are miniscule.)

In this latest survey, 31% of end users and 19% of AV providers said their companies had not been impacted by COVID-19. For the first time, we’ve asked these respondents to describe any positive developments at their companies. About 15% of end users cited the resumption of projects, the largest share attributed to a specific positive impact (77% did not/could not cite a specific positive impact). On the AV provider side, 30% said their companies had seen a resumption of projects; 23% cited an increase in incoming inquiries; and 14% said their companies had secured financing.

“For design consulting, things are still business as usual,” said one AV provider. “New project proposals are still going out the door. No existing projects have been put on hold. Clients are paying on time. We’re patiently waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

The full report is available here, as well as a video summary …