On 25 November 2025, Messe Frankfurt released a statement that reshuffles an entire industry calendar: Prolight + Sound will carry on without its Frankfurt venue. After 30 years on the river Main, event technology loses its largest German meeting point. For exhibitors, one practical question jumps to the top of the list: where do budget, floor space and dates go in spring 2026?
What Messe Frankfurt announced
The statement is short. Messe Frankfurt examined how Prolight + Sound could fit into Light + Building 2026 and concluded that demand for a dedicated Prolight + Sound themed area stayed too low. Under those conditions, the value exhibitors and trade visitors expect would have been hard to deliver. The show therefore ends at the Frankfurt venue.
Several of the companies approached for the themed area will now present their technology inside the regular Light + Building product zones. The organiser calls the decision a difficult one and thanks partners, exhibitors and visitors of the past three decades.
From anniversary to themed area: the timeline
The story unfolded in three steps.
In July 2025, Messe Frankfurt repositioned Prolight + Sound 2026: three show days instead of four, scheduled for 24 to 26 March 2026, with a tighter programme and the promise of three days that make a difference.
The early bird deadline closed at the end of September 2025, and registrations stayed behind plan. In October the organiser cancelled the standalone show. Wolfgang Marzin, Chairman of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt, pointed to the level of manufacturer registrations and to the responsibility the company carries towards exhibitors and visitors. A Prolight + Sound themed area inside Light + Building was planned as the new home, centrally placed on the eastern grounds.
Seven weeks later the picture changed again: that area is gone as well.
The last edition shows the scale that is missing
The 2025 results are worth a look. From 8 to 11 April 2025, Prolight + Sound celebrated its 30th anniversary in Frankfurt with 491 exhibitors and 23,031 trade visitors from 108 countries, around 36 per cent of them from abroad, plus more than 580 programme items across four days. 83 per cent of visitors rated the event as fully satisfying. Lighting technology drew the strongest interest at 63 per cent.
That focus explains why Light + Building looked like the natural successor. Prolight + Sound started in 1995 alongside Musikmesse, ran as an independent show for four years after Musikmesse closed in 2022, and now completes its Frankfurt cycle.
Light + Building: same city, different audience
Light + Building runs from 8 to 13 March 2026 in Frankfurt. Exhibitors there meet architecture practices, lighting designers, building services engineers, electrical contractors and facility managers. That is a different crowd from the riggers, sound engineers, rental houses and production companies of Prolight + Sound.
For the stand itself, that means a different story. Instead of stage atmosphere and demo areas for light and sound, the room belongs to planning certainty, interfaces, standards and reference projects. Our page on the exhibition stand for Light + Building shows how a presence in this environment can be built.
Where the industry meets in 2026
The German calendar stays busy. LEaT X in Munich is scheduled for 4 and 5 March 2026, LEaT con in Hamburg for 6 to 8 October 2026. Both formats have grown for years and gain extra weight through the news from Frankfurt.
The Prolight + Sound brand also stays active worldwide. Prolight + Sound Guangzhou recently counted more than 2,200 exhibitors and around 110,000 trade visitors. In autumn the brand premieres in Southeast Asia: Prolight + Sound Bangkok takes place from 30 September to 2 October 2026 at BITEC, together with VNU Exhibitions Asia Pacific.
Owned stages gain value
When a leading trade fair clears its slot, attention moves to owned formats. Roadshows, showrooms and in-house exhibitions reach exactly the customers who would otherwise have walked the aisles.
Modular system building shows its strength here. The same aluminium frames, LED tiles and fabric graphics carry an appearance at a trade fair, in your own showroom and at the next roadshow. We store these parts under digital records so they travel again and again. If you want to keep floor space flexible, our option to rent an exhibition stand fits that plan.
Frankfurt remains a strong trade fair location
Ambiente, Christmasworld, Heimtextil, ISH, Automechanika, Formnext, Achema and the Book Fair keep the halls busy. The location carries itself, even without Prolight + Sound. Our trade fair calendar shows at a glance which show comes next.
From Offenbach we reach the Frankfurt exhibition grounds within minutes and guide exhibitors from the first sketch to dismantling. If your 2026 appearance is being rearranged right now, talk to us and we will work through the alternative with you.