The Aisles Are Emptying At NAB?
by Paul McGoldrick
NAB announced in January that the Sands Expo and Convention Center would not be used for the 2003 Spring show (exhibits open April 7 - 10) because of "the addition of the new South Hall's 918,000 gross square feet of exhibit space at the LVCC" (Las Vegas Convention Center.) Whether that is the real reason, or whether the exhibit requirements have shrunk since space was allocated during last year's show, is a matter of conjecture but it is very late notice for such a massive change.
Yes, the visitors to the show can now spend more time walking the floor spaces instead of waiting for shuttle buses to take then between one convention center and the other; but in some ways that was a good excuse to get completely away from the show floor "atmosphere" for a little while.
But who is exhibiting at NAB these days? A search at NAB's web site shows a list of exhibitors - of all shapes and sizes - that is, to my count, 1223 long. Of the total the number who count themselves involved in DTV and HDTV numbers 299. Even of those (and there are both audio and video companies included) some that have managed to include one or other of the terms into their descriptions are a little suspect: Like the Italian Trade Commission, and a few standards bodies.
And, of course, there is a largish number of manufacturers on the radio side of the business - although that seems to be a shrinking arena as well - but that still leaves a huge number of "in-between" exhibitors. From the 1223 total you need to take away all the lobby booths, all the meeting room listings (including double entries for companies in the Pro-MPEG Forum), and all the exhibitors in the RTNDA (Radio & Television News Directors' Association) who have their show located in the Hilton Center, next door to the LVCC.
Then there are the exhibitors who you just have to wonder and scratch your head about. A few that pop out of the list are Tattoo Manufacturing, who really do manufacture stick-on tattoos, Medical Coaches (uh?), and Olympus Flag and Banner, whose slogan appears to be "get your message across to the masses." Little bit of Karl Marx in that one…
My guess is that the number of true exhibitors has eased back from the scary days of the 1980s, when the Better Space Wait List was an agonizing event with people hired to line up outside NAB's Washington offices. And although we are supposed to be fully in the throes of transmitter and antenna purchases for DTV, especially with the power rules eased by the FCC, the street talk from the trade publications is that the number of press releases being issued for new products at the show are way below previous years. So, vendors seem to be approaching the market with existing products instead of development spins. That is not good news for the broadcast TV market.
But with only 18% of the population depending on terrestrial broadcasts
you have to wonder about the future of the NAB shows. The separate Radio
Show has been in steady decline over the last five years and maybe this
is the start of the decline in the Spring show. We'll know as soon as companies
start to report that they were able "to spend quality time" with
their customers - a euphemism for the ability to bowl in the aisles. Whichever
way, NAB is saving the full costs of renting the Sands this year - probably
paying a negotiated settlement of some kind - and it won't badly hurt the
vast profits it makes out of Las Vegas.