Below is a Black Magic add in the latest New Scientist promoting a multi device streaming product. Thought this was an interesting avenue to advertise, I’m unaware how widespread the marketing campaign is, but the direct marketing makes sense given the online collaborations that now take place across all industries.

There are companies in the US also chasing the multiple cameras, streaming options, as is Atomos. Impossible to say at this point who will succeed, but my gut feel is the simplest option will win.  The customers looking to use this type of product are not professional operators, they may not even be particularly tech savvy, so it simply needs to connect easily and work. (Easier said than done)

What I find interesting is Black Magic used to be a different product range to Atomos.  However now both companies are now developing similar products, with hardware recorders and now multi streaming device options.

Thoughts on Jeremy Young "retiring"

Jeremy Young appears to be a bit of a “free” spirit.  He was no doubt instrumental in building the atomos product and enabling integration with most major camera brands, not an easy feat to achieve.

I also suspect his nature has not easily melded into the responsibilities of a public company. When he stepped down from the executive positions to focus on product innovation, I considered this an “mature” decision from a founder by playing to his strengths. His demeanor changed back to enthusiasm for the product.  Prior to that he appeared “out of his depth/uncomfortable”  on conference calls etc when dealing with the financial side of the business. Bringing Estelle McGechie in seemed like a positive move, (ex apple, Disney etc) to balance out the creative in Young. After the news of his “retirement”,  I now feel this has been a well orchestrated succession plan. 

Red flags I have recently had over Young's management are his large sell down of stock and the decision to break covid rules and sail yacht up to rugby match, and then get interviewed on TV with and atomos t-shirt on, not a great look.  The third concern has just popped up now with his exit.

Like Mikebrissy I am also mulling this over.

The big question I now have is can Atomos maintain and build on the competitive advantage they have built with their existing products and new platforms? How instrumental was Young in driving the product innovation in recent times?

I have followed AMS since it IPO’d. My partner is a stills photographer so I have some insight into the product and over the years have eyeballed the uptake of product from single video operators to major tv and film sets. It has broad industry acceptance and I viewed that as a positive for the company.

I haven’t done much research into competition in recent times, I’ll dig back into that over the next few weeks.  Black magic now have a recording device and their DaVinci Resolve software platform is highly regarded and used in the industry, buying a compatible Black Magic product may be a no brainer.  

I have thought in the past that a merger of Black Magic and Atomos could be advantageous, but I have no idea how the relationship between the two companies is, given Young worked for BM prior to AMS. (In fairness to Young, the Atomos product did not overlap with any of the Black Magic products at the time)

How sustainable is the competitive advantage AMS has going forward, they have broken the ground enabling easy integration with many camera brands.

• Can someone come along and build a product filling the same market?
• How will apple’s new iphone recording prores raw compete in the consumer market? 
• Is this the reason AMS has introduced streaming options and platforms recently?

Finally, Atomos filled a gap in the market for camera manufacturers who have focused on improving image capture and quality, however the ability to output and process the extra data created had been left behind, hence the 3^rd party options. In the future does it become a viable option for camera manufacturers to include better data management or are they happy to bundle with other products so their price points are maintained.

Held RL