AMSTERDAM--IBC Show officials reported attendance at the 2018 event of 55,884, a 3 percent decline from the 2017 show that attracted 57,699. The exhibit floor grew by 667 square meters (7,180 square feet) and conference delegates were up by 14 percent from 2017. The organization, which marked its 51st event, said noted that diversity of its content had improved with the number of women speakers at the conference up from 14 percent in 2017 to 37 percent.
The IBC International Honour for Excellence was awarded to its first-ever woman recipient this year: Joan Ganz Cooney, co-creator of Sesame Street, 50 years ago. Ernie the muppet accepted the trophy on her behalf. The IBC App logged more than 91,000 interactions and IBC itself trended number one on Twitter in the Netherlands on several days of the convention, with 185 million potential impressions and over 250,000 video views, according to show organizers. Engagement with IBC has also increased on a year-round basis with IBC365 – the site now has over 55,000 subscribers averaging 49,000 active users per month.
Apart from attendance, IBC CEO Michael Crimp noted that the show stats “are up in almost all areas and re-bookings are ahead of last year. IBC is much more than a trade show, we have developed a basket of data-driven statistics including sales leads generated on stands, conference attendance and IBC365 views and this sharing of information is pivotal to the longevity of IBC’s success and sits at the core of the organisation.”
New initiatives this year included a new content steering group, drawn from across the industry, and chaired by Keith Underwood, Chief Operating Officer at Channel 4 in the UK.
IBC head of content Jaisica Lapsiwala, said, “This year, we have worked closely with the industry to create a programme that is not only reflective of the changes in the ecosystem, but which also paves a path forward for our industry. This has resulted in an engaging and diverse 2018 edition of IBC. An example of this was our Global Gamechangers day which brought creative, technology and business chiefs such as Zahra Rasool from Al Jazeera, Peter Salmon from Endemol and Lindsay Pattison from WPP to the stage. Threaded through the programme were the cutting-edge technologies transforming the industry. Blockchain is a great example, with a keynote from Kim Jackson of Singular DTV and papers from people who are already implementing it, like Éric Minoli of Groupe Média TFO.”
IBC2019 will run Sept. 12-17 in Amsterdam.
