Late last week, Emerald Expositions, now part of Forge, announced that the 2026 CEDIA Expo had a “verified attendance” of 9,653 people. The company put out a press release in which it called the tally “almost 10,000” attendees. However, this result is around 14.4% lower than the 11,270 attendees at CEDIA Expo 2025, which was also held in Denver, CO.
What does this mean for the future of the CEDIA Expo event?
Learn more about CEDIA Expo attendance trends…
In the days leading up to the CEDIA Expo, I had written that I was hearing from many sources who expressed concern over the trend of this event (See: CEDIA Expo 2026 Looks to be Another Scaled-Back Show). I mentioned how a meme had emerged that the Expo this year was going to be “The last Show.”
And Then…Nice Went Away
This chatter was soon augmented by news that Nice, a major CI technology company, had made the decision to exit the show. Nice made no bones about the fact that it had come to the conclusion that its investment in marketing its brand could be better spent in other ways.
This latest news from Emerald appears to confirm that the concerns of many exhibitors and attendees were well-founded.
Emerald’s Commitment to Shareholders Outweighs Its Commitment to the Integration Industry
Emerald Expositions acquired the CEDIA Expo Show back in 2017, purchasing it directly from the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA). As part of the deal, CEDIA agreed to a perpetual license to Emerald of the CEDIA brand and trademark for a small percentage of the Expo revenues. Emerald also agreed to allow CEDIA to provide training and education at the event.
Back in those days, Expo attendance was a pretty consistent 20,000 attendees…as far as we know. Back then, Emerald would only provide a rough estimate of attendance. Before Emerald took over the show, CEDIA always provided attendance numbers to the media. Emerald refused to continue that tradition, just one of many examples I’ve encountered of the new show owners having a greater commitment to their shareholders than to the custom integration industry.
Then Came COVID
Things continued fairly smoothly until 2020 and the onset of COVID-19. That year, Expo attendance collapsed to just 7,600 people. Then, the following year in 2021, a massive outbreak of a nasty new strain of COVID caused the vast majority of exhibitors to pull out of the event. Although the logical thing would have been for Emerald to cancel or postpone the event, they went ahead anyway.
The CEDIA Expo in 2021 drew just 1,400 attendees.
Struggling to Reignite Expo
Now, in this post-COVID period, Emerald is obviously struggling to reignite the enthusiasm for this important event in custom integration. Yet they never hesitate to promote the event as a great success.
What stood out in Denver was the quality of the audience and the business happening across the show floor. Exhibitors told us they were meeting high-quality prospects, strengthening relationships with existing customers and generating real business opportunities. With 26% of attendees experiencing CEDIA Expo for the first time, we’re continuing to bring new people into the show and connecting them with this industry. That, combined with the business, discovery, and connection, is exactly why CEDIA Expo continues to be the premier event for the residential integration community.
Jason McGraw, Forge Group Vice President and Show Director for CEDIA Expo
Emerald’s formal announcement of results claimed that “Exhibitors pointed to strong traffic, high-quality leads, and the value of connecting face-to-face with the integration community.” [Emphasis added] It seems odd to me that the company would make this claim, given the double-digit percentage traffic decline. And let’s not forget – by their own admission – the 2026 event delivered, at 9,653 attendees, less than half the audience the show attracted when it took over the event in 2017 – then 20,000 attendees.
What Led Up to This? – Years of Attendance Decline Bedevil Expo
After the disastrous 2021 event, the show bounced back with 11,946 attendees in 2022. The next year, the 2023 Expo saw another 7.6% increase to 12,848 attendees. This was still well below the good old 20,000-attendance days, but was moving in the right direction. Or so we all thought.
Unfortunately, since that time, we have experienced three consecutive years – 2024, 2025, and 2026 – of declining attendance. Worse than that, the rate of decline is accelerating. This is truly concerning.
| Time Period | Attendance | Percent Change vs Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 > 2024 | 12,239 | -4.7% |
| 2024 > 2025 | 11,270 | -7.9% |
| 2025 > 2026 | 9,653 | -14.4% |
What Led Up to This? – Exhibitors Begin an Exodus From the Show Floor
The situation began reaching critical mass when, in 2025, Strata-gee learned that LG had notified Emerald that it would be pulling out of the Expo. Emerald scrambled and offered LG a deal on a meeting space. While that technically brought LG back into the show, they had clearly exited the show floor and were there with a much smaller presence.
For the 2026 Expo, LG continues in the same manner, sticking with a meeting room off the show floor. But then, as I mentioned, Nice announced it was exiting the 2026 Expo. This was followed by Samsung, which also pulled off the show floor. In addition to that, Harman, a Samsung company, also exited the show floor.
Exhibitor Exodus Gains Momentum – Samsung and Harman Notify Emerald It Will Not Be Exhibiting at the 2026 CEDIA Expo
Like LG did the previous year, Samsung and Harman notified Emerald this year that it will not be exhibiting at the 2026 CEDIA Expo. And, as it had with LG, Emerald offered them both a sweetheart deal to take a meeting space. While this allows Emerald to say they are still at the show, it is far less revenue for Emerald, far less of a display for Samsung and Harman dealers, and far less impact on attendees.
National custom integration franchise chain, Daisy, which had a significant display space in the 2025 CEDIA Expo as you can see in the photo at the top of this post, also pulled off the show floor. Like some of the others, they took an off-floor meeting space. I don’t know if, like others, they got a deal on that meeting space, but it certainly seems likely.
Exhibitor Count Declines
It is interesting to me that Emerald continues to claim that it had 320 exhibitors. A careful count of the exhibitor locator list on the CEDIA Expo website listed exactly 280 exhibitors. And even though Emerald additionally claims a total of 65 new exhibitors added, this exhibitor total equates to a 30% drop in the total number of exhibitors.
From the beginning, when Emerald acquired the CEDIA Expo in 2017, I began to hear from a large and loud chorus of complaining exhibitors. Exhibiting at CEDIA Expo was always an expensive affair, but under Emerald it got substantially more expensive, as they had many new additional fees and incremental space fee increases over time that made the event even a bigger burden, especially for small and midsize exhibitors.
Where We Find Ourselves Now…Where We’ll Find Ourselves Next Year
However, as long as the event continued to serve up 20,000+ attendees, most exhibitors felt it was money well spent. What rubs exhibitors the wrong way is when costs continue to rise, while attendance continues to fall. And for three years now, that’s where we find ourselves.
And those comments from exhibitors were some version of, “It’s getting harder and harder to justify the expense. The ROI just isn’t there.” This is likely the reason that 30% of exhibitors pulled out.
What About Next Year?
Next year, we’ll find ourselves in Las Vegas, NV, for CEDIA Expo 2027. Will a new venue ignite new growth in attendance? What do you think?
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