Editor’s Note: This article featuring AVIXA’s CEO David Labuskes, CTS, CAE, RCDD and his 2026 predictions is part of Commercial Integrator’s series running throughout the month of January. In this series, we spotlight forward-looking insights from some of the pro AV industry’s most notable luminaries.
As we look ahead to 2026, the pro AV industry stands at the cusp of exciting opportunities and transformative trends. To explore what lies ahead, Commercial Integrator turned to David Labuskes, CTS, CAE, RCDD, CEO of AVIXA, for his expert predictions on the technologies and strategies that will shape the future of pro AV.
David Labuskes 2026 Predictions
Commercial Integrator: Without getting into any specific vendor or particular branded solutions, what technology category or solution area do you see as 2026’s ripest, most profitable growth opportunity for pro AV integrators and installers? Explain your reasoning.
David Labuskes: Broadcast AV. This is being called a bunch of things. What it really is, in my opinion, is the technical enablement of a disaggregation of content development and content delivery. For a hundred years now, we’ve witnessed a fairly concentrated number of content producers who then also distribute that content. Publishing houses. Newspapers. Radio Syndicates. Movie Studios. Record Labels. Television Stations.
Today, for the most part, the drivers behind those models have disintegrated and, in their place, we have millions of content creators using platforms with millions and billions of views. However, quality expectations and demand models will always rule. Human beings do not want slop as their only media “dietary component.”
There is a timeless demand for high quality that will begin to influence an opportunity for curated development and distribution to be rebuilt. But that will depend on technology — much of which is currently in place but has been predominantly developed for traditional broadcasters. With the increase in enterprise broadcasters and broadcasting creators, the customer will change for technology providers. When there’s a shift in buyer, there’s an opportunity. And our industry knows the new buyer more than anyone else. Because that buyer was already buying from us — just other stuff.
Commercial Integrator: What’s getting better about the pro AV industry these days? What seems to be getting worse?
Labuskes: It might be wishful thinking, but I think our industry is becoming more sophisticated in its understanding of how to parse the true value proposition that they can deliver to their customers. And with that sophistication comes a greater demand for explicit practices that are dependent more on expertise and less on proprietary knowledge or experience.
The defensive model of attempting to horde information or best practices is being replaced with federations and ecosystems that are developing to deliver broad, integrated solutions to our customers.
I might be stretching the causality here a bit, but I think this is a pathway towards continuing respect for and appetite for diversity within our industry. The less we are dependent upon “secret knowledge” and rather on innovation and exploration, the more dependent we become on diversity. And that is my great hope for the future of our industry.
Stay tuned with Commercial Integrator as we gather year-end insights and 2026 pro AV predictions from the brightest minds in the industry. If you’d like to be featured, contact our editorial team (Alyssa Borelli, Amala Reddie and Dan Ferrisi).
