Emerald Expositions has acquired the International Drone Conference and Exposition (InterDrone), the largest commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) trade show and conference in North America, from BZ Media LLC.
Launched in 2015, InterDrone established itself as an event focused on the commercial applications for UAVs.
In its March 2016 report, Drones Reporting for Work, Goldman Sachs estimated the global market for commercial application of drone technology at about US$2bn, and projected the market opportunity over the next five years at more than $100bn.
In its second year, the InterDrone 2016 show attracted more than 150 exhibitors and over 3,500 attendees from 50 states and 54 countries.
InterDrone 2017 will take place 6-8 September, 2017, at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and, in addition to two large exhibition floors, features three subconferences for attendees, making InterDrone the go-to destination for UAV educational content in North America.
“Congratulations to Ted Bahr and his team at BZ Media for successfully identifying this market opportunity and building a strong event that provides a platform for commercial interaction and education to this burgeoning industry”, said David Loechner, president and CEO of Emerald Expositions. “We have seen first-hand the emerging interest in drones in our two professional photography shows, and we are excited at the prospect of leveraging our scale, experience and expertise in trade shows and conferences to deliver even greater benefits to attendees, sponsors, exhibitors at InterDrone and to the entire UAV industry.”
“We are very proud of InterDrone and how it has emerged so quickly to be the industry leading event for commercial UAV applications in North America,” said Ted Bahr, president of BZ Media. “We decided that to take the event to the next level required a company of scale and expertise like Emerald Expositions. We look forward to supporting Emerald through the 2017 and 2018 shows and working together to accelerate the show’s growth under their ownership over the coming years.”
Corporate Solutions, LLC of Westport, CT was the exclusive advisor to BZ Media in arranging and negotiating this transaction. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
