Happy summer, everyone! For the month of June, we wanted to get your insight on the thing that makes our favorite summer activities possible — outdoor AV technology. From weddings to concerts and music festivals, we got your thoughts on the prevalence of outdoor AV technology and where it’s headed.

For our first question, we wanted to get an idea of how often you all are using outdoor AV technology in your projects. The majority of you responded that you use outdoor AV technology rarely or occasionally. We spoke to Matt Kamp of Snap One to break down the results of this question. Kamp found these results slightly surprising, as he considers outdoor AV to be a strong growth category in AV.

“The use of outdoor AV equipment is very prevalent and a growing part of the industry from our perspective,” he said. “I believe outdoor technology will continue to grow in popularity and continue to be a core part of our industry’s growth area.”

Amanda Eberle of AV Chicago also spoke to the strength of the demand for outdoor AV technology, saying that in the events sector, there will always be a need for outdoor-rated technology, particularly for a multi-day outdoor event.

In our next question, we asked you all what the primary purpose of using outdoor AV technology in your projects was. The results were mostly split between educational purposes, corporate events and other uses. Those who answered “other” listed the following use cases:

• Digital signage
• Terrace amenity spaces, pools, school tracks
• Hospitality — restaurant, hotel, casino/convention
• Background music
• Commercial installations
• Sports arenas and stadiums
• Tradeshow trailers
• Campus events

Kamp said he found the prevalence of educational use in the results of this question to be surprising. According to Kamp, typical outdoor AV technology installations are more focused on the residential side, as well as small commercial or hospitality applications, like outdoor SMB venues. 

“Commercial AV continues to be a growth area for the industry and I expect more solutions to be included In corporate spaces that could perhaps expand conference room spaces to outdoors as well,” he said. 

Additionally, Eberle suggested that political rallies and press conferences present growth opportunities for the outdoor AV sector, as these use cases are not yet fully utilizing outdoor AV technology.

Our final question asked respondents what type of outdoor AV equipment they use most frequently. Unsurprisingly, 59.1% said they use outdoor speakers most often.

Commenting on these results, Eberle noted that the type of outdoor AV technology used varies significantly depending on the use case. For example, fixed outdoor installations need to be IP-rated, while temporary installations for short events do not require the same level of protection.

Kamp theorized that outdoor speakers are popular because hosting events outdoors is a more cost-effective alternative, considering the high costs of construction and real estate premiums.