Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ad revenue decline puts pressure on broadcast conference, industry

National Association of Broadcasters

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Torv Carlsen, center, of San Anselmo, Calif., watches a presentation at the Avid booth at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The worldwide recession's affect on Las Vegas and the broadcasting industry was evident at this week's NAB Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton, with attendance off by about 20 percent from last year.

The National Association of Broadcasters said Tuesday that 83,842 people had registered for the event, with international attendance falling less than domestic attendance. The NAB said international convention-goers totaled about 23,000 people, down about 17 percent. Included in the 83,842 count were more than 1,200 news media attendees.

The reduction was expected as many companies in the broadcasting industry have sustained declining advertising revenue. But observers said those attending this year's show were the more serious attendees, as many companies left second-tier employees home.

And, as usual, the presentations by speakers and the show floor were crowded -- with floor attendees inspecting multitudes of products ranging from video production gear to television remote-broadcast trucks to editing software. Large groups were captivated by presentations from companies ranging from Sony to Microsoft to Adobe Systems.

"With two days remaining, the NAB Show has been a phenomenal success by any measure in an otherwise challenging economy," said NAB Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton. "We appreciate the strong support of both exhibitors and attendees who continue to make the NAB Show the most important annual event for the electronic media marketplace."

David Rehr, chief executive of the NAB, said in his State of the Industry speech Monday that the broadcasting industry has made substantial progress in re-establishing radio as a major media force and now has tremendous opportunities to deliver video programming through more and more computers and smart phones.

A few years ago, he noted, radio was at a critical juncture.

"The rise of MP3 players and other competing platforms made radio seem obsolete to some people. They said radio wasn't adapting to the digital age. They said that listenership was declining and that radio was a medium of the past. But we knew they were wrong, and we set out to prove it,'' he said.

Since then, efforts to promote radio have included getting advertisers excited about standard over-the-air radio, getting more stations to stream online and more automakers to offer HD Radio as an option. Coming next is a push to get cell phones and smart phones to include computer chips enabling them to double as radios.

"Our goal for radio is simple, yet focused: Wherever there is a speaker or a pair of headphones, radio will be there,'' he said.

In television, the transition to digital and high-definition broadcasting and the push to stream video on the Web is being followed by efforts to make local and national broadcast TV programming portable.

"By 2012, we expect 130 million phones and 25 million media players will be able to receive mobile television. An NAB study concluded that TV broadcasters could see incremental revenue of more than $2 billion after 2012 with mobile DTV (digital television). I believe, the revenue upside is probably greater than we can even imagine," he said.

"Television broadcasters are moving TV beyond the bedroom, living room or kitchen. That means watching 'Lost' on your handheld media player or 'Heroes' on your cell phone. That means anywhere you are, you can access the news or your favorite shows,'' he said.

And opportunities continue to grow as broadcasters work with computer manufacturers to ensure their screens carry digital TV and growing social media applications like Twitter and Facebook present new opportunities to carry and promote broadcast programming.

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