CES Audited Attendance Up 12% In 2010

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 5/17/2010

ARLINGTON, VA. — The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), producer of the International CES, reported that the audited attendance for the 2010 event in Las Vegas this January was 126,641, a 12 percent increase from 2009.

An independent audit of the 2010 International CES, performed by Veris Consulting, confi rms CES’s status as the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow and North America’s largest annual tradeshow of any kind, CEA said. Last year’s show drew 113,085.

Veris is certified by the Exhibition and Event Industry Audit Commission (EEIAC) to perform audits. As part of the Veris audit, each CES attendee is counted only once, and show size is calculated using only exhibit space actually sold, not hallways or bartered space.

At CES this year 2,500 global companies, including a record 330 first-time exhibitors, unveiled an estimated 20,000 new technology products across 1.4 million net square feet of exhibit space, CEA said. Also, 24,364 international attendees from 136 countries helped increase global attendance at CES by more than 8 percent over last year.

According to the Veris audit, 45 percent of all attendees were senior-level executives, director level and above, on par with last year.

More than one-third of all attendees are the final decision makers when it comes to new product purchases and partnerships within their organizations. More than 8,400 attendees represented companies with more than $500 million in total annual sales, nearly double the previous year.

More than 12,000 retail buyers, 8,000 manufacturers and 3,000 engineers came to the 2010 CES along with more than 8,500 attendees from the software development/ publishing, content development and entertainment industries, a 41 percent increase over last year.

Top government officials also attended the 2010 International CES. Policymakers from the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Department of Commerce, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of the Treasury were all present.

This audit complies with the industry standards for audits adopted by both the EEIAC and the International Association of Exhibition and Events (IAEE), CEA said.

The 2011 International CES is scheduled to run Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas.