FCPX US Market Share

Hello all,

Today I came across with a Facebook topic regarding NLE. An editor post a photo about a full feature doc being edited in the USA and I noticed that it's being edited in FCP7. This editor is located in the US. I gently asked why he wasn't using FCPX and he told me that FCPX was the iMovie (not for PRO market) and that he could do A LOT more with the 7 than with the X. I know this kind of comment is generally from people that didn't ever touch FCPX or was disappointed when FCPX was released.

So far, so good, I know people have their own opinion, but what intrigued me was that he told me that in the US market, no one is using FCPX. That or the editors are still on 7 or migrated to Adobe Premiere. That probably 1~2% of the market were FCPX users. I was kinda shocked, since I am in the brazilian market and although here a lot of people went to Premiere, I still give hope to FCPX when I migrated 1 year ago. I just can't live without the metadata, Keyword collections and magnetic timeline.

So I think about asking you guys. What's the feeling about FCPX in your city/country? How well is FCPX doing?
Thank you.

From what I hear in the Sydney/ Australia market non existing. But who really cares?

There are only 2 issues: Being hired and the post deal the prod company has in place doesn't allow you to use FCPX and the second would be that Apple ditches the app. The first one would be really annoying and would need some serious talking and the second one is totally unlikely.

Other than that working with Audio or Grading guys is no issue anymore.

And quite frankly if Apple only keeps a 'hobby' app at the quality it is now I will be happy for the rest of my life. Any addition (apart from bug fixing) to Final Cut X is not really necessary because it already has everything you need. Of course if they come up with some additional time savers I'll take those too

I read so many pro FCPx reports that actually miss some amazing stuff this app can do that tells you that even the people using it haven't really understood it yet. I still discover new ways of working with it after 3 years.

my 2 cents

Happy editing

" That probably 1~2% of the market were FCPX users. "

There is no place this data factually exists, so he is making those numbers up off the top of his head.

Go here and tell me it isn't a professional product.
www.apple.com/final-cut-pro/in-action/

I remember that some years ago lots of "professional" editors sais NLE was toys and stay in linear tape workflow. I've had their job !
I'm finishing a one hour documentary for the first french broadcaster TF1. A film I edit because another editor say that FCPX isn't for broadcast work... Thank's to him.

BenB wrote: " That probably 1~2% of the market were FCPX users. "

There is no place this data factually exists, so he is making those numbers up off the top of his head.

87.3% of all statistics on the web are made up on the spot (I just this one up).

I'm amazed that this "iMovie Pro" is still mentioned. Looks like some folks never come out from under their rock.

I spent a long time trying to figure out or predict the market share of NLE software for the university where I work. We wanted to make the best choice when choosing our replacement for Final Cut Studio. My personal bias was in favour of FCPX, while some colleagues wanted to jump to Adobe.

If my memory serves me well, before FCPX was released the global market share looked something like this:

- FCP - 49%

- Avid - 25%

- Premiere - 20%

- Others - 6%

Since then Apple have claimed healthy sales of FCPX. CS6 apparently shifted some units when they offered deals for those converting from FCP7. Creative Cloud seems unpopular at the moment, with many Adobe uses sticking with CS6. If I remember correctly, Avid’s slow decline increased when FCPX was released.

There were (and still are) claims on various forums that all FCP7 users are switching wholesale to either Premiere or Avid. But this is simply people reporting their opinions or wishful thinking as fact.

I reported to my department that I couldn’t find any hard evidence that professionals were switching to Premiere or Avid. I concluded it was more likely they were sitting on FCP7 and waiting for FCPX to bring back the features they needed. We decided (thankfully) to adopt FCPX and there have been no regrets, only good experiences. We do provide Premiere CS6, so students have an opportunity to learn both.

So if there’s any point to my rambling, it’s that posts on forums and social media are not a good indication of where the industry is going. Hard evidence seems difficult to find at the moment, but we might see statistics at Apple’s WWDC in June.

Ian-B wrote:
There were (and still are) claims on various forums that all FCP7 users are switching wholesale to either Premiere or Avid. But this is simply people reporting their opinions or wishful thinking as fact.

In my case, we got FCP 8, aka CS6, as an addendum, as we weren't so sure about FCP's future in general. It is rarely used though. Our old machines still run FCS 2, the newer ones X. CS6 didn't offer much more to than FCS and is absolutely too clunky compared to X.

How many people who bought Premier at that time are still using it? We only use it when we have our masochistic day.

In 2011, Apple sited, for FCP7, an independent study (they did not pay for) that showed FCP7 had 53% of the professional post-production market. PPro had something like 18%, Avid about 16%. This was a survey of the broadcast and professional post-production market.

FCP7 had 2 million of these "professional" seats sold, and boasted a 94% satisfaction ratio. Apple claimed this ratio was far above other NLEs, but didn't site the study this came from.

FCP7 grew its user base "year over year" faster than other NLEs, selling twice as many seats as other NLEs combined.

Now, with that said, today's market is VASTLY different than back then. Broadcast and feature film are a drop in the bucket of today's video/film industry (no one shoots on "film" anymore, also). The majority of users are freelance pro and semi-pro shooters/editors/producers. Corporate, advertising, documentary, short film, indie film, YouTube, Vimeo, educational, it is a HUGE and dramatically more diverse market today. Thus tracking these types of statistics is much more difficult.

So let's look at the few facts we do have available:

1- In the past, just under three years, Apple has sold over 2 million copies of FCPX, in less than three years. That's more than FCP7 sold in its entire lifespan. FCPX has outsold FCP7, period.

2- Adobe claimed when FCPX was released, that their sales have increased 47% since FCPX was released. OK, the reality is that their approx 18% increased by 47%. What is 47% of 18%? Adobe admits, with tricky wording that they now have approx 26.5% of the 2011 market. Today's market is way more diverse and much larger.

3- If PPro has advanced to 26.5% of their previous market share, and all we know is that FCPX outsold FCP7 in its first year, second year, and continuing in to its third year, can PPro have actually caught up to FCPX sales? Apple claims over 2 million seats of FCPX. Adobe claims 1.8 million Creative Cloud subscribers. That isn't PPro users! I'll quote Philip Hodgetts here, "I’d be surprised if 30% of subscribers are active Premiere Pro users, but truthfully I don’t have a data point for that."

4- What other actual facts do we have to go on? Look how strong this forum is. Look how strong the traditional grass-roots support is for FCPX. Look at how fast and huge the thrid-party plugin maker for FCPX has grown.

Thus, taking the stories here on FCP.co and on Apple's own FCPX "In Action" page:
a- Can anyone factually say that FCPX is not being used anywhere?
b- Can anyone factually say it is not a fully capable pro level NLE?

Just food for thought, there you have it, no one knows anything about anything any longer. Anyone who claims to know the market, is full of BS. If Adobe owns the market now, where are the facts? We have next to no facts "today". But, extrapolate on what we do have factually, and things don't work out the way some in the industry claim the state of NLEs to be.

Some 2011 nostalgia...

Thank you all for the replies!

On this site here somewhere there is discussion about how the new Will Smith movie is being cut on FCPX. So yeah, totally not professional and nobody is using it. That guy is spot on /s


Don't worry, if he sticks with 7 he'll be obsolete in a few years when there is a huge industry shift to FCPX when all of the high school kids using FCPX hit the industry.

But but....I thought Will Smith is NOT a professional actor

BenB wrote: today's market is VASTLY different than back then

thanks, Ben, excellent back-ground infos!

.... I guess, the main problem in any evaluation is the meaning of 'market' here... What market? What 'pro'? Is pro = doing the job for money/living? not really

What about P/elements, Edius, Magixx, younameit, all those 'amateur' NLEs - can do a 1000x more than any Steenbeck did ...

Even if every vendor would publish 'sold copies'-numbers, the discussion would slip-off to "... but Coppola never used it!" ...

The few 'slaughterhouses' of edit-fabs are dinos, surviving by doing the handful of blockbusters per year (and probably highly customized, not using any software off-the-shelves). As in print, photo, music, the trend goes to 'Desktop Production'...

I'm not surprised by '2mio copies' ... the 'market' is millions of movie-makers - professional or not!
discussing market-shares is highly academic ... :lol:

found this quote on Philip Hodgett's site:

www.studiodaily.com/2014/03/adobe-creati...limb-to-1-8-million/

1.8mio ... number is for the complete CC suite - not NLE only .-..
so, even if every 2nd sub is for Premiere, that would out-perform Ben's 2mio dramatically ...

I think the number is significantly smaller than 1:2. Also there is no indication at all in the article that the number quoted is for the complete suite, only the number of subscribers. Probably the vast majority are single or team subscribers for Photoshop. I don't think anything can be extrapolated from this article on NLE usage.

First and foremost for me... people have their NLE workflow preferences but, anyone who rests their arguments on derogatory "iMovie Pro" comments shows their complete ignorance.

If they can't name a single FCPX workflow trouble spot then they have no clue beyond hearsay.
Additionally when many try to articulate an FCPX trouble spot it often exposes how misinformed they are about how FCPX really works.

If anyone says FCPX has no tracks. I'd say that's like disliking boats because they have no wheels.

My waterway is more fluid than your roadway and it covers much more of the earth's surface.

Just to add to what Craig said: I often see references to FCPX problems based on obsolete information, usually something that was changed quite a few versions ago.

cseeman wrote:
My waterway is more fluid than your roadway and it covers much more of the earth's surface.

This is classic! :lol:

Tom Wolsky wrote: I think the number is significantly smaller than 1:2. Also there is no indication at all in the article that the number quoted is for the complete suite, only the number of subscribers. Probably the vast majority are single or team subscribers for Photoshop. I don't think anything can be extrapolated from this article on NLE usage.

I agree Tom. Even of people who are FULL CC subscribers (like me). How many are illustrators? How many are motion graphics artists? How many are in print or publishing? How many are in web creation or design? How many are in audio?

I'd be surprised if 1/5th of all CC subscribers were Premier users. The CC suite covers WAY too many disciplines.

Excellent topic! I just realized I cant live without FCPX...I was so against it for so long and had been cutting in FCPS for 10 years...I spent $$$$ moving to AVID...ARGH! won't do that again...ADOBE argh!!! kind of a lame version of FCP7 that talks to After Effects. Dont get me wrong ADOBE is cool but the cloud is NOT! unless you work on it all the time and can justify the cost or write it off etc. I learned FCPX in my own time on small job while still using all the big A's to do my work which is Professional, Paying work. I have a small video company ( www.basementapefilms.com ) and produce work with deadlines and directors and all the lovely stress that comes from having to produce quality work in a timely budgeted fashion! I am a video vendor at Universal Studios Hollywood and produce work for companies in Los Angeles all the way to Orlando Florida...My point.... In time I migrated (forcefully) to FCPX...because I still believe APPLE to be a company that is all things, THE FUTURE...FCPX was so different no one wanted it, and ignorantly they called it I movie. (I did) But it is not at all I movie. To me it is the most forward thinking approach to NLE work since the creation of digital NLE.

I, like many in this post, am trying to wrap my brain around it (FCPX workflow)...The reason this is is because its so flexible and it totally thinks outside the box. I learn cool stuff on every edit/job. I can Edit fast in FCPX and I love the plugin world around it! Its incredibly stable and fast in my experience (on 3 different (older) machines) I can put clips, audio, generators where ever I want! I can put small audio effects on top of clips and compound them so they never get lost. I can build complex 4k vertically based GFX elements to be comp'ed into existing EDITs. I tried explaining it to someone as a 3D timeline that surrounds an inner core (apples storyline). Its so flexible, it feels limitless it your workflow style...and lets face it we as content creators are artists! What separates us for the crowd is our style...FCPX lets you work in your own style and we can all do the same things in many different ways. Some feel like it forces you to work one way BUT!!!! its not and you have work with it for some time to get over that hump...Once you get over the hump the seas parts and you say "OK I get it!"

I recently built a new video projected stage show for corporate events, XPOSE' www.xposevideo.net

My goal was to try to do it all in FCPX and most of it was...80% of the GFX and work alone was done in FCPX, 10% in Motion and 10% After Effects. Edited and Delivered from FCPX...This was huge! normally the %%% would be much different if I had used FCP7...The project will be a source of continual updates and more experimentation and should get more complex with time. but my point to all this RANT, was to show you how astonished I was with learning what FCPX could really do...To all skeptics...please learn it you won't regret it.

I recently joined the Adobe CC cloud for using After Effects as my CS6 is long in the tooth...I tried Premiere again and found myself feeling as if I went back in time 5 years ago...Yes it has great new features but the way of thinking and workflow is so old and not as forward thinking as FCPX is...Only time will tell if the APP is going to get better (as it does with FREE updates!)

In this world of shrinking budgets, cheaper 4K cameras and gear, and more folks making feature length films on a laptop, we all as editors have to adapt or get left behind!

Oh yeah the best pat about FCPX.... I own it.