South by Southwest is just around the corner, and more people are excited than just music lovers, film buffs, and tech geeks. Local businesses and the Austin government can't wait for the nine-day multimedia festival, trade show, and conference. Greyhill Advisors studied the impact of SXSW 2009, and found that the event injected a staggering $99 million into the Austin economy.
In addition to attendance cost and local spending that make up the $99 million, the media coverage from SXSW 2009 generated an additional estimated $21.4 million. In 2009, there were 200 million broadcast, print, and online impressions for SXSW, which created a "buzz factor" for the city of Austin and SXSW.
SXSW 2010 should generate even more revenue for the city. By January, pre-registrations and hotel reservations were already ahead of 2009's record pace, and the Interactive Media event was already up by 50%, according to a press release.
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