NATPE Sees More Attendees, Groups On Tap

NATPE’s 2014 conference in Miami Beach (Jan. 27-29) — with the theme “No Barriers. New Business.” — is pacing well ahead of the group’s 50^th anniversary conference in January of this year, both in terms of overall attendance and a in the percentage increase (double-digit) in the number of TV station groups that will be there, according to Rod Perth, NATPE president-CEO, on a conference call this morning.

Of those 28 station groups, 12 took advantage of NATPE’s station group incentive, up 100% from this year.

“The station incentive is, if they bring a certain number of executives, we provide a conference room for them, as well as incentivized rates,” Perth said.

More important than the financial incentive, he says, is that NATPE is seen today by station groups as being increasingly relevant to their business by bringing together buyers and sellers across linear and digital platforms.

“We think that by bringing great people together in the same tent, we have regained relevancy to an important constituent who, frankly, we had lost a lot of — local TV stations,” Perth said.

Meantime, overall attendance figures are pacing well ahead of this year. “There is a real sense of FOMA — Fear of Missing Out,” according to Perth. “It’s tangible. People really do want to participate and it’s not just from the traditional sector. This is the first must-attend event of the year for the linear and digital communities, but also advertisers, brands and, to a degree, the banking community, which cuts across the worlds of linear and digital. They know NATPE is a place where deals get done across platforms.”

The number of buyers at NATPE is pacing ahead of this year, Perth said: “I think that has a lot to do with buzz and the real sense that we help drive business. The key to getting business done at NATPE is the number of buyers.”

About 44% of buyers in Miami Beach will be from outside the United States, representing 46 countries, including a growing number of European countries.

Meantime, about 50% of speakers will be from digital platforms, up from 44% this year.

The changes at the conference reflect refinements that Perth has overseen since joining NATPE in 2012. “We reconstituted most of the board this year,” Perth said. “For the first time, this is a board that represents the dynamic changes in the business. We attracted board members who may not otherwise have served on NATPE because it was a different type of organization. NATPE now is committed to staying ahead of the changes in the business.”

NATPE this year also put together a digital advisory board. “It, too, reinforces a commitment to breaking down the silos between the linear-content world and the digital-content world,” Perth said. “For many years, they were silos. Now, there is considerable overlap.”