Market Intelligence Reports

• The Pro AV Sales Index (AVI-S) rose by 4.9 points to 63.1 in October, to its highest level in three years. The October increase suggests stronger and more broadly distributed sales across the pro AV industry, reflecting a combination of project backlog execution, year-end spending, and continued demand for workplace, education, and event solutions.

• The third quarter, which was reported in October, was an especially good one for the U.S. economy, led by GDP growth of 3.37%, up from 2.22%, coupled with a surge in investment of 19.42% overall and 20.88% for nonresidential equipment and 5.39% for nonresidential structures. This positive macro data resonated with AVIXA’s MOAR, which showed higher U.S. AV budget growth expectations for the fourth quarter. Overall, increased AV sales are driven by how organizations perceive the economic environment, as well as solution requirements.

• While October showed a rosy picture, rising costs (21%) remain the top concern among respondents. Followed up by hiring new employees (12%). Only 5% cite a slowing pipeline as a top concern for them and this is reflected in the AVI-S of 63.1.T

• October AVI-E rose 7.3 points, from 57.9 in September to 65.2. The October increase in the AVI-E was driven by a larger share of firms adding staff: 36.4% of respondents reported higher employment, 57.6% reported no change, and only 6.0% reported a decrease. The gain coincided with the AVI-S reaching its highest level in three years, suggesting firms are adding capacity to support project backlogs and year-end work. The broader U.S. labor market also showed improvement. ADP reported that private employers added 86,000 jobs in October, with employers of all sizes hiring, while BLS data showed September job openings rising to 7.5 million and quits reaching their highest level since March 2025.

International Pro AV sales continued to increase in October, with the preliminary non-North American AVI-S rising 1.6 points to 58.9. According to respondents in Europe business conditions are uneven, with new-client and pharma-sector gains offsetting budget cuts in other sectors, while inflation, political uncertainty, and project delays remain concerns. Respondents in Asia-Pacific point to slow project and order conversion rather than uniformly weak demand, with rising costs and seasonal delays weighing on activity despite pockets of healthy pipelines and firm procurement.

^{₁Due to the small sample, the North American and International indexes are based on a 3-month moving average. The October 2026 index is preliminary, based on the average of October 2026 and September 2026 and will be final with November 2026 data in the next report.} 

The survey behind the AVIXA Pro AV Business Index was fielded to 2,000 members of the AVIXA Insights Community between October 28, 2026 and November 4, 2026. A total of 291 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.