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CES 2025: Six PR Facts Vehicle Technology Suppliers Need to Know

One of the most competitive tech events in the entire world for journalists and exhibitors alike is arguably CES.

Because of this, it’s critical vehicle technology providers and automotive mobility suppliers understand the media relations and the PR landscape of this massive event to: set realistic media targets; manage executive expectations; and ensure a successful PR experience.

Based on our 30+ years of experience, many of those supporting automotive clients at CES, we’ve identified several key media relations facts, challenges companies could potentially face and the opportunities that surround them:

CES 2024 drew 138,789 attendees, including 56,432 attendees from outside the United States – more than 40% of the total and the largest percentage of international attendees to ever attend CES.

Challenge: If your company is trying to do interviews or demonstrations with journalists on the show floor amidst this massive number of attendees from around the globe, the show traffic and noise can easily impact your results and, unfortunately, not in a positive way.

Opportunity:  CES’ sponsor – the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) – offers a variety of exhibit suites, hospitality suites and meeting rooms for private meetings, conversations and demonstrations. These intimate settings can allow your company to have a “home base” for uninterrupted media interviews, as well as customer meetings. But you should be forewarned, booking private space through CTA is highly advised, as trying to book space for unsanctioned events offsite is likely to get your company banished from future CES events.

Even with 2.5-plus million net square feet of CES exhibit space, a 15% percent increase over the previous year, it fills up fast.

Challenge: Although this is a vast amount of space offered to exhibitors, it is possible to get locked out of exhibiting on the show floor. In years past, many late comers have been unable to secure the exhibit space they want.

Opportunity: If your company cannot secure the booth or product demonstration space it seeks, there are still ways to leverage media relations at CES. There are typically a few major pre-packaged media events that can draw solid media attendance in a meet-and-greet format, such as: CES Unveiled; Pepcom Digital Experience; and Show Stoppers.

These events have been so popular with journalists that many companies who are only interested in media coverage have chosen to participate in one of these events, instead of having a booth.

However, most journalists attending these events are more consumer-product-oriented, and these receptions tend to lend themselves to smaller, table-top type product displays, rather than active vehicle technology demonstrations.

More than 5,000 media and content creators attended CES2024.

Challenge: A large majority of media that attended CES2024 were there to cover the latest in consumer electronic products and gadgets. So, unfortunately for automotive suppliers and mobility technology companies, most of the journalists are not there to cover automotive and vehicle technology suppliers.

Opportunity: So, to optimize your PR opportunities, you’ll need to make sure that you have a compelling story with a good consumer angle and that it also addresses industry trends or issues. In addition, you’ll need to have strong visuals and videos to offer.

If you can deliver all of this, you may be able to gain some major consumer media coverage, such as national network news, that your top executives would view as a CES media relations success.

More than 4,300 exhibitors, including 1,400-plus startups, attracted reporters from all over the world.

Challenge: With such a large group of exhibitors, automotive suppliers and mobility technology providers face intense competition for journalists’ attention. And frankly, it’s logistically impossible for a reporter to cover thousands, even hundreds, of exhibitors in just a few days. Add to that the many distractions reporters face from other activities, including speeches, panels and receptions, it’s a lot for a reporter to take in and digest.

Opportunity: Such a large worldwide media audience in one place at one time offers the potential for your technology to be experienced by a much broader global audience than it might otherwise attract at other shows or individual media events.

With 25,000 media mentions and more than 35,000 articles leading to more than 277 billion impressions specific to CES 2024, the show offers an immense amount of media relations opportunities.

Challenge: The official media days for pre-show press conferences typically only last a day and a half, so the number of official news conference slots is quite limited, with most of the slots going to larger exhibitors with significant news.

Opportunity: Despite all of this, your company will have up to five days to connect with media at the show – for conversations, demonstrations and more, if you target the right reporters, develop a compelling story and pitch as early as possible. With the right strategy, you can make it the best media relations opportunity your company has ever experienced.

CES takes place in the entertainment capital of the world, dazzling Las Vegas.

Challenge: The sheer number of people in Las Vegas during CES can cause severe traffic gridlock and logistical confusion for attendees. Worse yet, the lure of shows, gambling and other extracurricular activities can distract and fatigue even the most industrious journalists.

Opportunity: To work around the distractions, it helps to begin your media pitching process early so that you can arrange pre-show, embargoed interviews or show previews. Embargoed pre-event interviews and demonstrations are one option that can take the fatigue factor out of the mix and allow journalists to develop and hold their stories before they even arrive. Early pitching can also help secure post-CES interviews, which allows journalists to provide their full attention and enable you to sidestep the CES chaos.

If you’d like more insight on how to succeed with PR at CES 2025, email us at bianchipr@bianchipr.com.

You might also be interested in:

• Automotive Suppliers: Will These Mistakes Crash Your CES 2025 PR?
• Meet the Media: Bobby Mace, Publisher and Author at Transmission Digest
• 5 Secrets for a Triumphant Press Event