IMS: Video analytics market to be worth $600 million in 2015

While the availability of free content analysis in video surveillance devices continues to grow, the need for chargeable higher-end applications will push the market for video analytics to nearly $600 million in 2015, according to a new report from IMS Research.

Features like motion detection and camera tamper, embedded in surveillance devices and offered as free by manufacturers, will be increasingly joined by applications for more sophisticated video content analysis (VCA). A clear divide will emerge between free lower-end applications and chargeable higher-end applications, the U.K.-based group predicts.

IMS researcher Jon Cropley, author of “The World Market for Video Content Analysis in Security & Business Intelligence Applications,” said the higher-end analytics will mirror the needs of society and advances in surveillance technology.

“Applications include people counting, identifying customer traffic patterns, assessing customer dwell times at different areas of a shop, and analyzing the length of queue lines, to name but a few,” Cropley told Security Systems News. “Then there are technology improvements such as (fewer) false alarms, searchable analytics and increasing processing power, enabling more applications at the edge.”

Cropley said the predicted $600 million market in 2015 represents a fivefold increase from 2008, the latest year for which he would disclose figures.

Although growth in the field will be steady, Cropley said, the industry still faces hurdles. Two factors that may impede chargeable VCA are how surveillance devices are currently being used, and the cost of bringing new applications on line.

“Only a small proportion of cameras are actually monitored live,” he said. “Most record the video, and operators only view an event after it has occurred. Since the vast majority of the commercial applications do not monitor live video, this greatly reduces the available market for video content analysis software.”

Cropley said the global economic climate has put pressure on funding for projects where VCA has traditionally been used, such as airports, railways, government installations and critical infrastructure.

“Video analytics remains relatively expensive compared to video management software,” he said. “Large enterprise projects, with many hundreds of channels of analytics, remain expensive to install. … If the required funding is not obtained for these enterprise projects, then installations can be postponed or canceled, seriously impacting the market for (VCA) software.”

To appreciate how VCA can work for them and to set realistic expectations for the technology, end users and integrators need to see it in the field, Cropley said. He said the overselling of VCA capabilities when it was first introduced—a perception not helped by high-profile TV shows like “24” and “CSI”—has left some customers with a negative image.

“There are still many end users and integrators who do not fully understand the technology,” Cropley said. “They need to learn more about the potential benefits and pitfalls before they will fully buy into the concept. In the network video camera market, companies like Axis Communications, Sony and Bosch have spent tens of millions of dollars educating systems integrators, consultants and end users. This commitment has paid off, as growth in this market has flourished over the past decade.”