............ NAB IS DEAD ........really?

[walter biscardi] "[Ron Lindeboom] "Already gone are a long list of shows like Showbiz Expo (that had been a Hollywood cornerstone for years and years), gone also are the NY DV Show and LA DV Show, Videomaker gave up their show a few years back, the DVD Tech Expo is gone, DV Expo is a 20% to 25% of what it once was at its peak, Siggraph continues to get smaller and smaller each year, NAB is shrinking in both size and importance, and the list could go on and on..."

I personally think all of these other shows realized that there's really no need for any other trade show than NAB in the States. I also believe most of the companies who were on the show floors realized this too. "

Precisely, NAB had a good thing and a lot of up and comers came along and saturated the market.

[walter biscardi] "
NAB will most definitely shrink in size, but it is the one show that "if I can only go to one show this year" it's going to be NAB. There's nothing else like it (except IBC) where you can truly see just about everything in one location. "

I was just looking at the stats on nab attendance for 2007 and it is about 108,000, about the same as when I last attended in 2000.

Since the early days of the acceptance of computers into the video editing environment the market has changed immensely. Every Joe Blow who has been laid off a the local TV station has a FCS and is competing in the same market place. The 400 or so movies in production has to compete for it's market share of viewers who are now producing their own content (docs, shorts,youtube etc.) The masses are less and less content to watch make believe action movies for entertainment and are focusing more and more on real world issues that confront us daily.

I think Avid like a lot of companies just has to tighten it's belt. Most companies traditionally did NAB AND road shows. Road shows are nothing new for anyone. I think Avid should have just scaled down their booth but continued a presence at NAB.