CES 2016 freshly concluded over the last weekend. We looked at some of the social media stats in advance of this mega-show; now we take another look at numbers from the technology show.

The organizers of CES, the Consumer Technology Association, sent out a press notice, summing up the impact of the show. Here are a few facts (which attendees and their sore feet might be able to attest to): 3,800 exhibitors unveiled and shared their technology across almost 2.5 million net square feet of exhibit space; 500 startup companies were represented in the Eureka Park Marketplace, up from 375 in 2015, so startups are becoming a larger voice in the CES conversation.

More than 170,000 industry professionals, including over 50,000 from outside the U.S., were attending the show. Among those in count were attendees from over 150 countries and 100 plus official delegations, including the first Cuban delegation organized by the Cuban Embassy of the U.S. Over 6,000 in attendance were the media to cover all these booths and square footage (not to mention product and service showcases after hours), so widespread and thorough coverage was guaranteed. A final count of CES 2016 attendees will be announced in late spring after an independent audit.

Since we talked about social media hype leading up to CES, it doesn’t hurt to share what social media impressions the show received during January 5-9: a significant 278,870 mentions of #CES2016 and a positively whopping 15.2 billion total potential social media impressions from January 5-9.

If you’re skipping through the story, looking for a TL;DR, you’re in luck. This video summarizes the CES experience in one glossy 90-second video flashback. CES 2017 will return to Las Vegas January 5-8, 2017.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for these CTA events through 2016, up to CES 2017.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Winter Break, March 21-24, Park City, Utah
• San Diego CES on the Hill, April 19, Washington, D.C.
• CES Asia 2016, May 11-13, Shanghai, China
• CEO Summit, June 21-24, Tel Aviv, Israel
• Innovate! September 20-22, San Jose
• CES 2017, January 5-8, Las Vegas

From VentureBeat.com:

Above: Dean Takahashi demos ODG’s augmented reality glasses.
Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

I’ve returned from the biggest battleground of tech, the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

My Intel Basis Peak smartwatch told me that, over four days at CES, I walked 73,376 steps — or 18,344 per day. Those steps felt heavier this year because I carried a shoulder bag instead of a roller bag, per the new security rules at the event. I managed to come back without the nerd flu, and without a blister like last year.

I did my best, but that means I covered a very small percentage of the 3,000-plus companies across 2.4 million square feet of exhibit space a CES. My eyes glazed over as I saw lots of drones, augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, robots, smart cars, fitness wearables, 3D printers, and smart appliance that were part of the Internet of Things, or making everyday objects smart and connected. I have published 63 stories so far about CES products and events. (I should say I’ll continue to publish stories from CES over the next couple of weeks). I think this was my 20th CES, though I have lost count.

Inside the bubble of CES, which was attended by an estimated 150,000 people, I didn’t even know the stock market was melting. But CES is the place to look if we want to find the things that are going to save us from economic gloom. The global technology industry is expected to generate $950 billion in 2016, down 2 percent from a year ago, with the decline due in no small part to weakness in China. This year, I didn’t see much that was going to save the world economy and overcome the skepticism of natural-born cynics. You could certainly find partisans who will say that virtual reality or the Internet of Things will do that, as they are both movements that are spreading well beyond jus one or two companies. But it’s a reach to say that these categories have discovered their killer apps yet.

Sill, I had a lot of fun finding things that I liked, and there was no shortage of these. Without further adieu, here’s my favorite technologies from CES …

Read more at: TheVentureBeat.com

It’s not a stretch to say that the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which takes place this week, is a huge, many-armed beast of a technology show. It’s a collection of Las Vegas venues and summits and showcases, with a sprawling expo at its heart, connected by the filaments of about 170,000 attendees.

Tech-aware folks are generating plenty of social media and Web posts, too, covering all angles of the show. Virtual reality, augmented reality, Internet of things, games, hardware — you name it, it’s likely being talked about.

Amobee, a digital marketing technology company, through its Brand Intelligence platform, stated it has undertaken an analysis of 600,000 sites, between December 4, 2015, and January 4, 2016, covering social, web, video and mobile digital content posts relating to CES 2016. The meat of it is the interesting tidbits where the CES 2016 hype is most impactful (to gamers and gaming tech). Let’s take a quick look:

Big Brands in the Lead

Unsurprisingly, a few big names command a lion’s share of the attention at a trade show as enormous as CES. To capture and keep awareness at a show with the mobile population of a small city and expo floor space most of a square mile in size, you almost have to “go big or go home,” with a splashy keynote, customized tote bags, media event and/or booth space.

According to Amobee, the top five brands getting mentioned the most in digital media, from the top, are Samsung, Apple, Sony, HTC and LG. Apple, who has not attended CES in many years, attracts a raft of high-visibility products and services that plug into their ecosystems. That’s especially true with the Apple-only MacWorld tradeshow still apparently on ice. Sitting just a step back of these brand behemoths, in sixth place, is Oculus, the company behind the much-anticipated Rift VR headset.

Virtual Reality

Speaking of Oculus, a few big-name virtual reality (VR) products have been getting substantial attention: 2016 is often said to be the “year of VR“. Recent stats by market intelligence company SuperData figures on consumers spending $5.1 billion on VR hardware and software in 2016.

The granddaddy of the anticipated VR product rollouts — yes, the Oculus Rift, has been getting noted in 12 percent of all CES-related digital content mentions. The Rift headset will be opening pre-orders during CES. Following closely behind, the up-and-coming HTC Vive (11 percent) and the PlayStation VR (10 percent) headsets.

Best of the Rest

Overall, what kind of tech categories to be shown at CES are people most talking about? Based on the brands getting the most visibility, Amobee’s list of the top five types of tech make sense: Smartphones, laptops, tablets, fitness trackers and 4K TVs are getting the most mentions. Virtual reality is only a step or two back but definitely a part of the conversation. Emerging technologies, like wearables, drones and Internet of things, also take their piece of the digital content pie, which feels like a trend that will continue to grow over the next few years.

Keep an eye on Events for Gamers here and on Facebook and Twitter, as we track and share news from CES!