Exclusive: Unpacking the Annual Ranking of Top 20 Exhibition OrganizersExclusive: Unpacking the Annual Ranking of Top 20 Exhibition Organizers
In an interview with TSNN, Stax Managing Director Florent Jarry talks trends and shares insights behind the numbers of the recently released list.
October 3, 2025
Informa (No. 1) and RX (No. 2) remained the world’s largest exhibition organizers by revenues in 2024, but Messe Frankfurt edged out Clarion Events to take the third spot, according to the Top 20 Ranking of Exhibition Organizers released by the global strategy consulting firm Stax on Sept. 3.
Both Hyve and dmg Events joined the Top 10 after significant growth last year due to acquisitions and organic growth, respectively. Three organizations joined the list: IEG, IFEMA, and Terrapinn, while three Chinese institutional organizers fell off: CFTC, CCPIT, and HKTDC (due to the absence of credible revenue data).
Stax Managing Director Florent Jarry
“Exhibitions have reasserted themselves as a core channel for B2B marketing throughout the funnel and for customer engagement,” said Stax Managing Director Florent Jarry. “The growth strategies of the leading organizers demonstrate that the industry has become more competitive, global, and sector-focused than it was pre-Covid.”
Beyond the rankings, we wanted to delve into the history, methodology, and key findings of this year's list. We sat down with Jarry who offered invaluable insights for industry stakeholders looking to benchmark their organizations and understand the competitive landscape of exhibition organizers globally.
Below are highlights from our interview. Watch or listen to the full interview.
What’s trending: Growing revenues, changing landscape. The annual ranking of top 20 organizers by revenue in 2024 reveals 20% growth for the cohort from its pre-Covid highs in 2019 (aggregate revenues of $10.0 billion vs. $8.35 billion, respectively), according to Stax. “The industry has not just recovered but grown,” said Jarry.
Rising through the ranks: CloserStill, NürnbergMesse (both returning to the Top 20), and Easyfairs rose up the ranking in 2024 compared with the previous year.
Comparing revenues year over year: Aggregate revenues across the Top 20 organizers rose from $8.77 billion in 2023 to just over $10 billion in 2024, a 14% annual increase. This growth was broad-based—led by both global leaders and mid-tier challengers, according to Stax.
Growth at the top: Informa and RX, global market leaders that are both publicly traded, expanded revenues by double-digits, the former achieving a record-breaking $2.74 billion in exhibition-organizing revenues, including the acquisition of Ascential, according to Stax.
Standout gains from mid-sized and sector-focused groups: “Hyve nearly doubled its revenues, reflecting both portfolio strength and the acquisitions of HLTH and POSSIBLE,” according to Stax analysis. “dmg Events grew by approximately 70%, driven by strong performance in the energy and infrastructure sectors, as well as Middle Eastern growth. Messe Frankfurt, NürnbergMesse, and IFEMA benefited from positive biennial effects to grow above 25%, while CloserStill and IEG reaped the rewards of strong portfolio management to expand at a similar pace.”
What’s driving growth: The firms that have outperformed are those that leaned into international growth, targeted acquisitions, broader event types (including B2B festivals and 1:1 events), and sector-focused models, unconstrained by location, according to Stax. The operators gaining ground are those with the freedom to move capital, launch in growth regions, and scale sector communities—rather than being tied to physical venues and local mandates.
Institutional vs. Non-institutional: “For decades, European institutional organizers, often tied to city-owned venues, anchored the global exhibition hierarchy, but their leadership is wavering. While Messe Frankfurt, Messe München, and Messe Düsseldorf remain Top 10 players, their revenue growth since 2019 has been incremental. In fact, not so long ago, there used to be five Messen in the Top 10,” according to Stax. “In contrast, groups like Informa, Clarion, Hyve, Easyfairs, and IEG, have achieved faster expansion (35%-50% growth) through acquisitive, international, and asset-light strategies. The most impressive trajectories over the period are those of dmg Events, CloserStill Media, and Terrapinn (new Top 20 entrant this year) who have doubled or even tripled revenues over the period, mostly driven by very strong organic growth engines.”
Business models matter: “From an organizer model perspective, it is eye-opening to note that the institutional organizers in today’s Top 20 cohort have flat revenues in aggregate in 2024 compared to 2019, while the non-institutional cohort saw aggregate revenues grow more than 30% over the period,” according to Stax.
Deeper dive: “When taking into account all biennial effects (which mostly apply to institutional organizers), it is interesting to note that this group grew about 10% in 2024, while the non-institutional group grew 16%. Of course, results are biased by the biennial event calendars of some players (e.g., Kölnmesse, GL events, or Deutsche Messe). Despite their drop in 2024, these organizers show 20-60% growth on their more comparable 2022 results,” according to Stax.
Looking ahead: “The Top 20 are likely to widen the gap with the rest of the industry as consolidation, geographic expansion, and sector clustering continue,” according to Stax. “The ability to develop additional channels to support the in-person event model is also one that is being championed by many non-institutional players, further strengthening their value proposition. Future value creation in exhibitions will be shaped by operators that combine sectoral depth with geographic flexibility and scalable platforms. Fixed-venue operators, by contrast, will be more limited in their ability to capture growth.”
