Tiger Group’s commercial and industrial division posted company record sales of pro-grade audiovisual equipment in 2020, due in part to the need for live event production companies to liquidate excess and underutilized gear as a result of business challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Production of films and TV shows is rebounding where possible thanks to the development of industry-wide best practices on safety,” Jonathan Holiday, director of business development for Tiger C&I and leader of the firm’s AV practice, said. “However, the live event side of the AV business continues to struggle. It’s part of why we sold such a tremendous number of mixing boards, speakers and other equipment used for live events over the course of last year.”
Tiger C&I’s total dollar volume for AV auctions, private treaty and other sales climbed 37.9% in 2020 despite the halt to production that occurred at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The total number of AV lots sold increased by 21.2% from 2019 levels.
In all, Tiger’s 2020 AV sales attracted a company record number of bidders from across the U.S. and 21 countries. Those results were fortified by marketing efforts that delivered a 7.3% increase in Tiger’s AV contacts from the close of 2019.
For Tiger’s AV clients, available strategies include live, webcast or online-only auction events conducted via SoldTiger.com in addition to turnkey sales, liquidations and private-treaty sales. During the past year, the sell-through rate for AV sales was nearly 100%, according to Holiday.
The division’s AV-focused sales during 2020 were located in both the United States and Canada. Holiday and his team worked on behalf of five different major clients: Keslow Camera, Westbury National Show Systems, The Camera Division, Schulman and Sim Digital, with several holding multiple sales with Tiger during 2020.
Among the highlights of the year was Tiger C&I’s first AV sale in Canada, which was conducted on behalf of creditors of Westbury National, which was placed in receivership in October 2020.
“A key component of our strategy was to avoid flooding the market with this sought-after equipment,” Holiday said. “Our proven, tiered approach enabled us to maintain price sustainability.”
The main Westbury auctions took place over three days in November, followed by a fourth in December for a smaller, highly specialized division. The Toronto events offered an inventory of audio equipment, lighting and video gear valued in excess of $15 million.
“We pushed out an email on a Friday and by Monday had received hundreds of inquiries,” Holiday said. “By the end of the sale, we had the largest number of inquiries for any AV sale we’ve ever done, attracting bidders from Canada, the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. It was a very successful sale.”
Another noteworthy deal in 2020 was Tiger C&I’s private treaty sale of a 42-foot Freightliner mobile production truck packed with AV equipment.
“With the buyer located in Hawaii, this massive truck was shipped across the Pacific from Los Angeles,” Holiday said.
In its core AV product lines, throughout 2020 Tiger experienced demand for equipment such as lenses from Cooke, Zeiss and Ultra Prime, and digital cameras by manufacturers such as Arri and Sony. As in 2019, some of these sales of excess gear supported the ongoing operations of healthy production rental companies such as Keslow Camera, which maintains eight offices across North America.
“If all goes well with the national vaccination campaign, we should see an even more robust recovery of production and eventually more theaters reopening,” Holiday said. “However, it’s likely that live events will continue to lag behind other sectors.”
