Key Takeaways:
- CES offers massive media exposure but also fierce competition, requiring early planning and a compelling story to stand out among thousands of exhibitors.
- Most journalists attend CES for consumer tech, so vehicle tech suppliers must align pitches with industry trends, offer strong visuals and consider private meeting spaces to cut through noise.
- Early outreach, smart positioning and strategic use of CES-sanctioned events or suites can help suppliers overcome logistical challenges and maximize PR outcomes.
CES is arguably of the most competitive tech events in the entire world for journalists and exhibitors alike. As a result, it’s important that vehicle technology providers and automotive mobility suppliers understand the media relations landscape of this massive event to accomplish the following:
- Set realistic media targets
- Manage executive expectations
- Ensure a successful media relations experience for all involved
Based on our experience in supporting clients at CES over the years, we’ve identified several key media relations facts, as well as challenges and opportunities, companies should prepare for, including:
Fact: Even with 2.5-plus million net square feet of CES exhibit space, spanning 12 official venues, exhibitor space 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.
These CES sanctioned 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 product displays, rather than active vehicle technology demonstrations.
Fact: CES 2025 drew over 141,000 attendees from around the globe, of which 40% were international from over 150 countries, regions and territories.
Challenge: If your company is trying to do interviews or demonstrations with journalists on the show floor amidst this massive number of attendees the show floor traffic and noise can 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. Booking space through CTA is highly advised, as trying to book space for unsanctioned events is likely to get your company banished from future CES events.
Fact: 6,582 global media, content creators and industry analysts attended CES 2025.
Challenge: A large majority of media that attended CES 2025 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 suppliers.
Opportunity: To optimize PR opportunities, you’ll need to make sure that you have a compelling story with a good consumer angle that 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.
Fact: More than 4,500 exhibitors, including 1,400 startups, attracted reporters from all over the world.
Challenge: With such a large group of exhibitors, automotive suppliers and mobility technology providersface 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.
Fact: With more than 27,000 news stories and content from CES 2025, 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.
Fact: CES takes place in dazzling Las Vegas … the entertainment capital of the world.
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 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.
Jessica Muzik is the Vice President, Account Services at Franco. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
