IFA Organizers Renew War of Words Against CES Over Tech Show Supremacy

After several years of truce, organizers of Berlin’s IFA show renewed their war of words with CES over which event reigns supreme in the world of consumer tech shows. IFA “is literally covering the world,” and is “undisputedly the No. 1 consumer electronics show,” Christian Goke, CEO of Messe Berlin, told the IFA global news conference Saturday in Rome. It’s true, “there are other tech events in the U.S., and they are formally known as CE shows,” said Goke. “But let’s be honest. It’s not always that easy to understand how these shows are structured. Sometimes it’s not that easy to go from hall to hall and hotel to hotel, even when the lights are on. For many brands, it’s always a bit of a gamble if you make your mark there are not. Which is sort of fitting, given the location.” Goke’s remarks on the lights were a reference to the blackout that struck the Las Vegas Convention Center Jan. 10 on Day 2 of CES (see 1801110030). The remarks prompted one journalist in Q&A to ask Goke why he denigrated CES to promote IFA, when IFA and CES are very different shows, serving different purposes with different audiences. Goke responded: “There was no denigration intended at all.” CTA representatives didn’t comment Monday but in the past have defended CES as having superior attendance and exhibit data as verified by global auditing authorities (see 1712140005).