The 2025 edition of EAG Expo (ExCeL London 14-16 January) which comprised 100-stands occupying 4,958 square metres of space has registered a third consecutive year of growth underlining its’ status as the UK’s leading trade expo for the out of home entertainment industry.
Bacta, the UK trade association which owns and organises EAG has confirmed that the number of unique visitors rose to 4,306, a 23 percent year-on-year increase. Visitation, which is a record of the number of visitor days, topped 6,000 (6,100) a 42 percent uplift on the 2024 figure of 4,299.
The figures represent a powerful endorsement of the strategic decision to launch the co-located SIE Expo (SIE) which featured all forms of Immersive, Competitive and Social Entertainment alongside the London Casino and Gaming Show (LCG) both of which succeeded in engaging with new complementary audiences and served to enhance the overall EAG entertainment experience.
Nick Harding, who succeeded Martin Burlin as Chairman of EAG Expo believes the rejuvenated show proposition provides a powerful platform for future growth. “We’ve drilled down into the attendance data and there’s an awful lot of reasons to be really optimistic about the show’s future” he stated.
“Exhibitors want to see buyers and our analysis confirms that 84 percent of those attending EAG, SIE and LCG were defined as decision-makers within their organisations.
“The team has also analysed the number of businesses that were present at ExCeL London, and across all three co-located events the total was 1,973 comprising EAG: 1,562, LCG: 245 and SIE: 166.
“My view as someone who has attended many different industry shows both in the UK and on the international stage is that the number of businesses represented by decision-making visitors is a far more insightful way of measuring the value of an event in helping its exhibitors to achieve their corporate and commercial objectives.”
EAG’s ability to attract buyers from across the out of home entertainment sectors has also been put into sharp relief by the 2025 data. The most popular vertical of interest to attendees was Amusements: 35 percent of visitors, followed by Adult Gaming Centres (19 percent), Pubs and Clubs (15 percent), Visitor Attractions (14 percent), Casino (9 percent), Competitive Socialising (4 percent) and Bingo (4 percent).
EAG also succeeded in growing its international community of visitors with 14 percent of the total travelling to the London shows from outside the UK.
Looking ahead to 2026 Harding added: “This is a great platform to build on and I have been delighted at the feedback that we have received from both exhibitors and visitors.
“The two new co-located events enjoyed highly successful launches and we are already taking bookings from exhibitor organisations which used 2025 as an intelligence gathering exercise and were impressed by what they saw.
“We are in the midst of an extensive digital satisfaction survey of visitors and every exhibitor is being consulted on a one-to-one basis by a member of the EAG team. The results of our customer research will be fed into the development programme for the 2026 shows which will take place 13th/14th/15th January at ExCeL London.”