Tens of hundreds of trade professionals will descend on Las Vegas this January for the primary full-scale in-person Shopper Electronics Present in three years.
After an all-virtual present in 2021 and a scaled-down model final January, organizers count on this iteration of the tech trade’s largest commerce present to be a return to kind with not less than 70% bigger footprint than final 12 months’s present, which drew 45,000 folks, and greater than 3,000 exhibitors and a couple of.1 million sq. ft of present area.
The occasion’s programming may even broadly adhere to an over-arching theme for the primary time this 12 months—”human safety for all”—in partnership with the United Nations.
Under are among the traits that would form this 12 months’s present.
Well being and transportation tech on the rise
The present’s bread and butter is after all its futuristic gadgetry, which has included an rising variety of electrical automobiles, health-related gadgets and all method of sensible home equipment lately. These traits are anticipated to proceed this 12 months with a fair wider vary of mobility and transportation gadgets—together with a demo of an precise flying automotive—and a well being tech trade supercharged by a pandemic-driven surge in demand, stated Kinsey Fabrizio, senior vp of membership and CES gross sales on the Shopper Know-how Affiliation, the commerce group that runs CES.
Even earlier than the pandemic, the CTA had been making a concerted effort to lean additional into healthcare tech like distant monitoring, telemedicine and wearables, a pattern which the Covid-19 pandemic solely accelerated.
“Key leaders in healthcare are going to be at CES this 12 months,” Fabrizio stated. “Moderna might be at CES—their CEO might be talking—Teladoc might be at CES for the primary time ever.”
Whereas health tech and electrical automobiles aren’t a pure vacation spot for entrepreneurs, new platforms like in-car leisure techniques or residence train programming may present sponsorship alternatives.
Metaverse and NFTs will seem all through the present flooring
Digital actuality and augmented actuality gadgets will little question play a giant function as properly with speak of the metaverse set to permeate each a part of the present flooring this 12 months.
Except for the precise {hardware}, organizers say the present might be leaning closely into all issues metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), regardless of current turmoil within the cryptocurrency markets making some execs cautious about something associated to web3, the umbrella time period for expertise that proponents say will represent a brand new model of the web.
“Metaverse and web3 is a brand new theme for us,” Fabrizio stated. “That is simply going to be widespread throughout the present flooring. Each sector of CES and the tech trade is speaking about this.”
However the current chapter of FTX and the following crash of cryptocurrency markets may forged a shadow over this a part of the occasion, regardless of that controversy having little bearing on tech just like the metaverse, in keeping with Kassan. NFTs had additionally been experiencing slumping gross sales for months earlier than the FTX meltdown as their preliminary wave of hype appeared to be subsiding.
“Entrepreneurs proper now appear to be conflating the FTX of all of it with blockchain and NFTs. Individuals are simply sort of bucketing all of it collectively, like, ‘Oh, it’s all of that stuff.’ And I don’t assume that’s the case, clearly,” Kassan stated. “That’s going to be a distraction to the expansion of that area, for the second not less than.”
Retail media networks could have an even bigger presence
Whereas show-goers usually come to CES with a watch in the direction of the longer term, getting a glimpse of expertise that may form the world a number of years down the road, looming financial uncertainty within the new 12 months can also push budget-constrained entrepreneurs in the direction of sensible tech that higher serves a backside line within the quick time period.
“2022 was about escapism in a manner … looking for a brand new playground for us all to play in,” stated Elav Horwitz, McCann Worldgroup’s svp of worldwide innovation and artistic partnerships director. “I feel CES 2023 might be extra about being sensible and realism.”
Prime of that record are retail media networks, that are set to have an even bigger exhibiting within the occasion’s promoting and media-focused C-Area this 12 months. Walmart could have a a lot bigger presence at this 12 months’s present because it tries to spice up its Walmart Join adverts arm, as will Amazon Advertisements.
“An enormous space of curiosity is that this explosion in retail media,” stated Michael Kassan, CEO of administration consultancy MediaLink, which is understood for having a giant presence at CES. “The projections that 12% of media goes to be retail media spend with Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons, Goal and each different retailer rightfully that as an enormous potential development space.”
Financial uncertainty may curb attendance
Consultants say an anticipated downturn within the first quarter of subsequent 12 months may also dampen attendance as journey budgets will doubtless be reined in for the primary week popping out of the vacations. That might make for a extra muted presence for some industries hit notably onerous by financial shake-ups, like promoting.
“I feel individuals are it and saying, ‘I’m going to be extra choice-ful by which journey I select, and a bunch of corporations, notably in our trade put out not solely the hiring freezes however journey holds within the final half of this 12 months, and I feel that’s most likely carrying over a little bit as properly,” Kassan stated.
Staying forward of the streaming panorama
Because the related TV trade faces flux this 12 months with main streamers retooling their methods, Netflix will seem for the primary time as a serious advertiser because the service makes an attempt to jump-start its new ad-supported tier with talking slots within the C-Area. Roku’s promoting arm, Samsung and different machine producers may even have a giant exhibiting on the present as they’ve.
Entrepreneurs might be on the lookout for solutions on keep forward of streaming providers’ newest strikes round ad-supported video, like Disney Plus launching its personal advertising-based choice, Kassan stated. “All people’s going to be watching the tea leaves there and understanding how manufacturers are going to essentially survive and thrive in a streaming in a related TV world.”
‘Human safety’ will form the present
Most of the activations and exhibitions placed on by attending manufacturers may even have a sustainability or social good bent in accordance with the occasion’s theme this 12 months. LG Electronics, a serious participant on the present annually, will highlight its sustainability objectives with an exhibit referred to as “Higher life for all,” and Samsung will current its imaginative and prescient for “sustainable improvements.”
“I’ve discovered that sustainability goes to be massive this 12 months,” Horwitz stated. “I’m hoping the improvements we see might be extra sensible, humanized and aimed toward doing good on this planet this 12 months.”
