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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.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 | 1:39 p.m.
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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Is this a joke? Does this David Rehr character really think I'm going to watch 'Lost' and 'Heroes' on my call phone when I can DVR and watch on my 50" HD plasma? Please tell me this doorknob is joking. God help broadcasters if they're banking on this.
Sounds like the NAB is slip slidin' away.
Even losing a margin of their audience to those going to other, more relevant places for their needs, is sufficient to do some damage.
Presume that more will follow.
Good luck to them, and the oligarchy they've bought into.
They're going to need it.
I attended this year's NAB/RTNDA from Sunday through Tuesday.
I'd estimate (based on 20 years of attending conventions) that floor traffic this year was, at best, during the normally heaviest traffic'd days of Monday and Tuesday, at approximately half of last year.
The NAB spokesman quoted in the article was mentioning that registrations (that take place up to several months prior to the event itself) were down 20% from last year.
That's an interesting shading of context.
NAB does not measure the actual foot traffic of those who were physically present in Las Vegas.
This article was just a bouyant pass through of a press release from the event sponsors, and did not reflect what actually occured at the Convention Center for either those who attended, or those manufacturers who expected a far larger crowd of potential buyers.
This year was a continuation of several year's downtrends in attendance at technology conferences in Las Vegas.
Decisions about returning to Las Vegas, for future NABs, RTNDAs, CES, or other related events will have to be based on fundimental reviews of billable results and actual foot traffic, rather than "it's all good" comments that do not accurately reflect what occured.
As usual, the NAB hypes it's attendance figures. I just returned from the show (my 45th). As a broadcaster for many years, and an exhibitor for many more, I am sure that attendance was down this year far more than 20%, and probably closer to 40%. Judging from floor traffic, parking availability near the LVCC, street traffic, hotel crowds, restaurant availability and conversations with other attendees and exhibitors, the NAB's numbers are far from accurate. Any Vegas cabdriver would probably confirm the decline in attendance.
The NAB uses these inflated numbers to justify exhorbitant increases in fees to exhibitors for participation in a show that has less and less to do with broadcasting as the over-the-air broadcast business slides into oblivion.
Broadcasters are cutting costs due to plunging revenues as listeners and viewers are drawn away by cable, satellite, internet and other competing sources of entertainment and information.