The NATPE exhibition floor, once famous as a site of dealmaking and debauchery in the heyday of the firstrun syndie biz, died Jan. 29 of natural causes. It was 28.
The floor put up a brave fight but limped through its final three-day perf at the 46th annual confab in Las Vegas. The floor was a shadow of its former self, with nary a TV personality in sight and only a handful of costumed people roaming around the sparse booths. (Two young women in leather bras and chaps and little else grabbed most of the attention.)
The demise of the tradeshow aspect of NATPE was long in coming, as changes in the biz diminished the event’s importance as a place for syndicators to cut deals with station owners. But it was the sharp economic downturn of the past few months that dealt the final blow. The only major players to take out space were NBC Universal, CBS’ international sales arm and FremantleMedia.
The sentiment among NATPE vets who took in the first day of the market - traditionally a Grand Central Station at rush hour-type scene - was: ``What are we doing here?''
Born in 1981 in New York, the NATPE floor quickly became a legendary site of talent flesh-pressing (from Jerry Seinfeld to Jerry Springer), promo stunts (everybody remembers the year a flock of Hooters girls showed up to promote a prospective show) and exec antics (meet ya for cocktails in the booth at 11 a.m.!).
The floor was hot in the 1990s, when it bounced between New Orleans and Las Vegas and spanned 300,000-400,000 square-feet and hosted 500-700 exhibitors. The absolute peak came in 2001, just before the dot-com crash, when it covered a whopping 451,000 square- feet and 870 exhibitors.
From there, the long slow decline began, as distribs defected to private hotel suites. In its swan song, there was room enough on the NATPE floor for a game of touch football. Or two.
Survivors include jumbo shrimp, a few million tchotskes handed out in booths over the years and stories aplenty.
Contact Cynthia Littleton at
cynthia.littleton@variety.com