The AV Sales Index (AVI-S) for February increased to 58.9 from 55.6. Even with inflation and the current instability of political situations, the Pro AV market remains strong and almost five points above February 2025.
Future pipelines are looking strong. Historically, February sees corporate Q1 technology rollouts, education sector RFP and procurement cycles beginning, and live events preparing for spring/summer peak seasons. These sectors were suppressed early in January and thus poised for an uptick.
While the U.S. Supreme Court overturned President Trump’s sweeping tariffs, most respondents to the February survey don't expect this to have any effect on their business. Prices that have been raised aren't expected to be lowered, but respondents are hoping there won’t be increases over the next year or two. With the back and forth on tariffs, many remain unsure of how the year will play out.
“Q1 is usually slower for our supply sales as everyone stocked before the holidays to ensure they have enough lamps, tape, etc. to get through seasonal shows and events; however Q1 is also where we do a lot of the install work that has been planned in Q2-4 of the previous year,” shared an AV provider in North America. “Tariffs continue to be concerning; it’s difficult to forecast pricing for future projects, and Chinese New Year closing all business in China means we have to pre-plan and pre-purchase what we think we may need for the rest of the quarter until they return to manufacturing and shipping.”
The January AV Employment Index (AVI-E) dropped again to 52.5 in February. U.S. and global labor markets both show cooling while employers struggle to find skilled workers. The U.S. employment market cut 92,000 jobs in February.
“Mostly, it's keeping up with demand and hiring enough qualified installers and technicians. We have more business than we can handle right now. It's a good problem to have except when you can't complete projects in the timeframe that the customer desires,” shared an AV integrator in North America.
The Pro AV Business Index report is derived from a monthly survey of the AVIXA Insights Community, a research community of industry members that tracks business trends in commercial AV. The report comprises two diffusion indexes: the AV Sales Index (AVI-S) and the AV Employment Index (AVI-E). In each case, an index above 50 indicates an increase in sales or employment activity.
Visit www.avixa.org/AVindex to access the free monthly Pro-AV Business Index reports and learn more about the methodology. For more information about joining the AVIXA Insights Community, visit www.avixa.org/AVIP.