By Dom Serafini
TV trade show organizers are very good at finding and negotiating for convention and hotel space. They’re also good at re-selling the rented real estate to exhibitors. They’re also proficient at leveraging seminars and get-togethers to attract paying participants, and using the trade press to promote their events.
However, they seem to be stuck with a business model created over 60 years ago, which consists of bringing together, in our case, content sellers and buyers. They took the cue from the NAB Show that the Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Broadcasters first staged in 1923 to showcase equipment manufacturers’ new TV cameras and transmitters to broadcasters that couldn’t possibly be done in their offices or labs.
But the content business was different, and, indeed, major U.S. studios at first rejected the idea of international TV trade shows. When there were only public TV networks, the broadcasters made pilgrimages to the studios. But when the indies entered the TV content business, competition rendered the TV trade show a very efficient and effective selling venue for all.
Today what content-related trade shows miss is a vision of the television’s entire ecosystem. This system is a complex universe that includes advertisers, broadcasters, streamers, producers, creators, and rating services. Nowadays, the main business model of TV trade shows involves just a section of this ecosystem — mainly producers’ representatives (i.e., content sellers) and content buyers. It happens that digital technology has reduced the need for face-to-face, in-person meetings, and thus the existential crisis of the TV market sector has been reduced to a mere conference-seminar gag.
The modern way to stage a TV trade show should involve all the elements of the television ecosystem. This could be depicted as a circular track with each element (such as advertising) orbiting inside it, and each element shown as having a client both in front of and behind it. We’ll start with the outlets’ main clients, the advertisers. These advertisers attract broadcasters and streamers (i.e., content buyers). In turn, content buyers attract content producers and their market representatives (i.e., distributors). To attract advertisers, there are rating/data services, and rating/data services are attracted by both the TV outlets and advertisers. To further entice producers, there should be financiers who invest in content production.
Only if this ecosystem is developed, will TV trade shows start to become viable again.
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