Expansion continues in May
Highlights
- US GDP decreased at an annual rate of .2 percent in the first quarter of 2025, primarily due to the increase in imports and a decrease in government spending. The AV Sales Index (AVI-S) also continued to show expansion, with a slight dip from April (59.7) to may (58.3). Inflation and the ever-changing tariffs remain top concerns within the pro AV industry. However, Respondents comment that some markets are doing better than others and appear to remain optimistic overall.
The AV Employment Index (AVI-E) Dropped just over one point in May from 55.5 to 54.2. The U.S. labor market has slowed in May with private employers only adding 37,000 job which is much lower than the expected 110,000. Leisure and hospitably added jobs as expected during the summer months while transportation and utilities lost jobs. Analysts continue to watch the effects of trump’s tariff policies .
International Outlook
With the newly finalized numbers in our moving average for May, North America AVI-S exceeded the rest of the world, 61.5 to 6.1. North America’s April index (61.1) surpassed last April (60). Now in May, North America continued to outpace the rest of the world 61.11 at its initial reading versus 57.81 for the rest of the world. Shared growth is ideal for the industry.
1Due to the small sample, the North American and International indexes are based on a 3-month moving average. The May 2025 index is preliminary, based on the average of April and May 2025 and will be final with June 2025 data in the next report.
1AVIXA®, the Audiovisual and Integrated Experience Association, has published the monthly Pro AV Business Index since September 2016, gauging sales and employment indicators for the pro AV industry. The index is calculated from a monthly survey that tracks trends. Two diffusion indexes are created using the survey: the AV Sales Index (AVI-S) and AV Employment Index (AVI-E). The diffusion indexes are calculated based on the positive response frequency from those who indicated their business had a 5% or more increase in billings/sales from the prior month plus half of the neutral response. An index of 50 indicates firms saw no increase or decline in business activity; more than 50 indicates an increase, while less than 50 indicates a decrease.
We have been seeing some repercussions from the tariffs. It seems that a lot of integrators were stocking up on displays which is making it difficult to source products.
AV Integrator, North America
Student enrollment is down so our budgets may be pinched as a result of reduced revenue
End user, North America
May was slow but closer to plan - education very weak, corporate soft other markets more buoyant.
Distributor, Europe
Methodology
The survey behind the AVIXA Pro AV Business Index was fielded to 2,000 members of the AVIXA Insights Community between May 29, 2025 and June 6, 2025. A total of 299 AV professionals completed the survey. Only respondents who are service providers and said they were “moderately” to “extremely” familiar with their company’s business conditions were factored in index calculations. The AV Sales and AV Employment Indexes are computed as diffusion indexes. The monthly score is calculated as the percentage of firms reporting a significant increase plus half the percentage of firms reporting no change. Comparisons are always made to the previous month. Diffusion indexes, typically centered at a score of 50, are used frequently to measure change in economic activity. If an equal share of firms reports an increase as reports a decrease, the score for that month will be 50. A score higher than 50 indicates that firms, in the aggregate, are reporting an increase in activity that month compared to the previous month. In contrast, a score lower than 50 is a decrease in activity.
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