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  • Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2025

    Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2025

    Las Vegas, NV April 5-April 9

    Published to clients: April 14, 2025                    ID: TBW2070         Published to readers: April 15, 2025                     

    Published to Email Whispers: July 16, 2025

    Publicly Published with video edition: July 16, 2025

    Analyst(s): Dr. Doreen Galli

    Photojournalist(s): D. Doreen Galli

    Abstract:    

    After over 40,000 steps, 20 flights of stairs, 8 Vegas Loop rides, 140 minutes of video content spanning education sessions, main sessions and exhibition highlights, our coverage in NAB Show 2025 closes. NAB Show 2025 hosted 55,000 attendees with 26% from 160 countries and 53% being first timers. Various vendors showcased AI-driven media solutions, storage innovations, and advanced workflows. Key technologies included AI for speech translation, video captioning, media format transformation, and virtual production. The event emphasized the importance of secure media storage and collaboration tools, with a focus on AI-enhanced search and metadata creation. Next year’s conference will be held at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

    The Conference

    • Data storage, data virtualization, identity and access management, networking, cloud computing, hybrid computing, AI vision and audio, metadata, compression and search were all popular technologies found within the solutions.

    Cautions

    • This year’s NAB Show featured an alarming trend for those with corn allergies. Specifically numerous booths in every hall were popping corn throwing the corn protein into the air. Studies show up to 6% of the population potentially have such an allergy with some segments of the population measuring at 15%. Perhaps the LVCC should consider restricting such items in booths for future events.
    • Just because a storage solution holds your media and makes it easy to access does not mean it is secure and appropriate for the intellectual property for which it is used. Identity and access management must be a part of the storage solution.
    • While not unique to the Media industry, most data storage solutions have no method to keep track of all the various copies created of a given file therefore potentially leaving the door open for information leaks or data thefts.
    • Despite also catering to the growing creator economy, ad servers for social media could not be found at this event.

    Conference Vibe

    After over 40,000 steps, 20 flights of stairs, 8 Vegas Loop rides, 140 minutes of video content spanning education sessions, main sessions and exhibition highlights, our coverage in NAB Show 2025 closes. NAB Show 2025 hosted 55,000 attendees with 26% from 160 countries and 53% being first timers. This is down from NAB24 when 61,000 attendees gathered from 163 countries. The conference spanned the entire Las Vegas Convention Center sans Central Hall which in under construction leading to a somewhat bifurcated experience. Registration was available at all halls and major resorts on the strip. West Hall featured AI and Machine Learning, AdTech, Monitoring, Asset management, cloud computing, storage, streaming, radio, transmission and start-ups. West Hall featured eateries in the food court as well as in the exhibit hall. West Hall also hosted the recognition for all those support the NABPAC and ensuring freedom of the press remains a right. To get to North Hall one could take the Vegas Loop to Central Hall or take the interior connected bridge that crosses the street. North Hall featured TV and newsroom automation, audio production, cameras, digital signage, lighting and grips. North Hall had the food court outside of traditional Central Hall open despite Central Hall construction. From North Hall to get to South and South Lower Hall one could jot around the construction outside. Admittedly the construction did give a bit of a bifurcated conference feeling. South Hall lower featured production, post-production, acquisition, graphics, editing, creator lab and the post-production world. South Hall food court was also open for those needing food at this location in the event. If one wanted to return to West Hall, there was also a Vegas Loop stop at South Hall that one could take back to the Central Stop or directly to West Hall.

    While at NAB Show, we conducted research for three forthcoming Whisper Reports for our clients. The playlists are unlisted but available and will eventually fill in with the video version of the report so you may wish to bookmark these playlists.

    1. Whisper Report: How can AI and machine learning transform media and entertainment?   
    2. Whisper Report: What are the best practices for integrating cloud technologies in media workflows? 
    3. Whisper Report: How can we leverage the creator economy to drive business growth?

    Sessions

    NAB has a full schedule of sessions and educational talks for attendees. Main stage in West Hall always has some of the biggest headliners. This year we were able to capture DJ Delilah’s story that she shared as she won her award. It was interesting that early in her career that her merit of achieving exceptional ratings with the audiences was rewarded with a layoff. Main stage also featured an interview with Stephen A. Smith who recently signed the largest contract for a sports commentator that wasn’t a pro-athlete.

    We were also able to briefly capture two training sessions by the ever-engaging Luisa Winters. The first session taught drone pilots how to get the best shots to make amazing content. Wishing to learn more about drones and running a drone business? The answer is in our coverage of the commercial drone event, Conference Whispers: CUAV Expo. The second session by Luisa Winters was her event on additional methods to monetize YouTube. Unfortunately, what we captured seemed to be the same advice commonly found online.

    Many vendors also had specialized stages such as this partner talk on the AWS Stage. This session focused on the AI content delivery workflow for a multimodal media stack. Finally, we captured the main stage event featuring the Bluemoon AI use case with Dell and NVIDIA on the topic of AI Advanced workflows. The big advice was to train your models locally.

    Storage & Search

    One of the largest problems found in media is where to put all the media! Media is not only voluminous, but it is the Intellectual Property that gives media companies value. The first problem is where to store it so those that need to work with it can. Strada agents allow one to share their hard drive with collaborators turning it into a private cloud. Studio Network Solutions, SNS, gave us an overview of the various methods it enables media professionals to share their media storage for collaboration. As a word of caution, just because a product is at a conference and organizations use it does not mean it is secure. Particularly, there was an alarming lack of identity and access control technology protecting many media storage solutions. For more research on this topic see Conference Whispers: Identiverse.

    Some of the solutions exhibited adds in AI for additional capabilities. For example, Axle.ai works with your storage BUT adds AI and search capabilities so one can maximize monetization of their content. Likewise, Eon Media also focuses on adding value to raw media assets leveraging various forms of AI to create the metadata to enable such powerful searches. Interestingly, their solution also enables and facilitates the licensing of such content for the full digitization to monetization spectrum. There was an abundance of solutions that applied AI to your data in your storage as well. For example, Magnify immediately searches your live video including sports video adding critical metadata to the field to reduce production costs and increase content usability.

    Workflows

    The next largest group of technologies involves those that go beyond storage or storage and search into the production workflows. TBW Advisors LLC is excited to share that we were able to capture a demo of Latakoo, popular in end-to-end workflow in broadcasting. Furthermore, we had an exclusive interview with Latakoo’s Founders right before they found out they won Best in Show NAB25! This award recognizes their generative video coding to transcribe live video.

    Dell had a large display sharing all their latest and greatest in hardware, software, and solutions including those with some of their biggest partners. Dell has always been known for their ability to understand what is required to scale out – something the crowd really seemed to appreciate at NAB. Simple and easy was the goal with the new capabilities highlighted by Ross. Where the solution leverages their components or an industry standard, just drag and drop into the workflow and you are set. As with

    AI and Speech

    While many different terms are used to describe the capabilities derived, the base functionality of many solutions involved artificial intelligence analysis of speech. From the video owner’s perspective, they often seek to have the video translated from one language to another. From the business’ perspective this is called localization. YellaUmbrella provides a pay-as-you-go translation capability for all your content. If you want the video to not only have its sound in another language but attempt to make it look like they are speaking it, also known as dubbing, DeepDub supports 130 languages and is one of the solutions you should evaluate. Another AI use case with speech is to provide in-room captioning for live events. This capability is critical for those seeking inclusive events and is available via MediaScribe.

    Additional Media Technologies

    Additional technologies we found include the critical capability of changing formats – Europe and USA do not use the same formats. Broadcast and streamers do not use the same formats. Cinnafilm is known for high quality media transformations. Cinnafilm’s flagship product, Pixelstrings can even make something 1080p to 4k! If the only transformation you are seeking is clipping it into shorts along with some intelligent search, Opus clips was in the creator’s lab. Another technology from the creator’s lab is the amazing ability to create a 3d augmented reality virtual background by AR Wall. Nominated for product of the year, AR Wall also offered a package with Sony for a huge screen to install for its realization. Keeping on the theme of virtual production, Riverside offers virtual podcast capabilities. Interestingly, all recording is executed locally in order to remove any network delay or contamination in the media. Last but not least, for all those editors and producers using these amazing products, there is KB Covers and Keyboards. Mac or windows or even laptops, editor or producer tools or even analytics, CRM or ERP tools – KB Covers and Keyboards vast array is likely to have a keyboard or cover to assist.

    Next Year’s Conference  

    NAB Show 2026 conference will once again be held in Las Vegas, Nevada April 18-22, 2026.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

    ©2019-2025 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Technical Business Whispers, Fact-based research and Advisory, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Email Whispers, The Answer is always in the Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking, The Answer is always in the Whispers, and One Change a Month, are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2024

    Conference Whispers: NAB Show 2024

    Analyst: Dr Doreen Galli

    Photographer: Dr Doreen Galli

    Published April 24, 2024

    ABSTRACT

    After 85 flights of stairs, ~40,000 steps, 12 Vegas loops trips, and over 40 factchecks, our coverage of 2024 NAB Show, National Association of Broadcasters Show, ends. NAB Show was held in Las Vegas from April 13-17. It is the premier event for content professionals in the broadcast, media, and entertainment ecosystem seeking to create superior and innovative audio and video experiences. The conference featured over700,000 net square feet of exhibits, nearly 1300 exhibitors, 750 educational courses and sessions, and over 61,000+ attendees from an amazing 163 countries. Attendees witnessed endless examples of cloud enabled remote production, early implementations of generative AI, and discussions on sustainability in production and technical security for remote live production.

    The Conference

    • The first NAB Show was held October 11, 1923, in New York City at the Commodore Hotel. There were 16 radio stations represented among the 23 attendees. NAB Show moved to Las Vegas in 1991.
    • NAB Show was held April 13-17, 2024, in Las Vegas. The event featured over 61,000 attendees. Within those attendees 27% were international attendees from an amazing 163 countries represented.
    • The exhibitions featured nearly 1300 exhibitors in over 700,000 net square feet of exhibits a 30% gain over 2023.
    • Attendees at NABShow held titles such as Production Director, Production Editor, Production Engineer, Broadcast and Network Engineer, Logistics Manager, Electrical Engineer, Sound and Video Engineer, Director of Product Management, Technical Architect, and data scientist.

    Conference Vibe

    After 85 flights of stairs and 40,000 steps, and 12 Vegas loops trip, our coverage of the 2024 NAB Show produced by National Association of Broadcasters, ends. NAB Show 2024 exhibitions surpassed last year’s by nearly 30% with 700,000 square feet in all. Attendance came in at 61,000 attendees with 27% coming from international destinations. NABPAC contributors were recognized in the West Hall. The conference leveraged the entire indoor conference exhibit spaces in the West Hall, Central Hall, South Upper and South Lower and a few rooms in North Halls. A majority of North Hall was under construction. Fortunately, the Vegas Loop was running with free rides so one needed not walk the entire distance. We took advantage of the loop no less than a dozen times. When asked attendees reported meeting their business objectives and described it as really good. Once again – the quality of attendees itself was mentioned by the exhibitors.  Our entire playlist of video research for NAB Show is available online at our YouTube Channel.

    Deep Learning & Generative AI in Media

    With over 200 exhibitions and over 150 sessions on AI, generative AI was once again the star of the show. Amid the buzz about AI and generative AI transforming broadcasting, one question was on the mind of video engineers – “Will it affect our jobs?”. Luisa Winters had an answer in her keynote. If you are adapting and using the new technologies, you will be fine. No different from the move from tapes. More importantly, you will not only be able to deliver something acceptable but have time to make it great! Another keynote emphasized the importance of great metadata for your assets if you want to fully leverage generative AI solutions in sports coverage. As one might expect, there were countless examples* of tools for production and distribution and each of the tasks involved. Pixellot was on hand with their exciting deep learning automated sports tracking leveraged for streaming sports. Their solution leveraging their state-of-the-art cameras and patented technology that stitches it all together. As would be expected, each sport has its own model. In fact, they had over 10,000 live events streaming as I conducted the interview. Pixellot also includes capabilities for monetizing said sports streams.

    One keynote provided a demo of Adobe Premier Pro, something we didn’t recall seeing at Adobe Summit. Backlight showcased their extensive collection of products for media content creation and distribution. Backlight’s solution leverages AI and  generative AI to simplify media workflows. Backlight allows horizontal and vertical video distribution. Backlight leverages their own AI and LLM models to transcribe the video/audio. That transcription is then used to quickly generate all the metadata to put on social media. They leverage automation to automate the creation of sports highlight clips out to social media by registering all key moments as the game plays. Finally, their solution also enables monetization.

    Amazon and AWS were at NAB Show in full force. A huge display was on hand where they shared their entire Generative AI stack with those looking to develop solutions. Experts were on hand if you had any questions including seeking insights on Amazon Bedrock. In the Microsoft pavilion, SymphonyAI was there as part of the beet the buzzer architecture that enables viewers to play along with game shows. Microsoft offered a Pilot demonstration of AI enabled marketing.

    Transcription and translation are a big area for generative AI in broadcasting and media, sometimes referred to as localization. This topic was featured in a keynote as well as in exhibits. Microsoft featured their solution based on Open AI. TRINT featured their text to speech solution adopted across the industry. One exciting development is the ability to do full motion capture without putting on a special suit due to generative AI! In fact, Zerospace Captury was on exhibit sharing their solution. Interestingly, the room only requires about 15 minutes to set up the space to capture motion.

    With all of the generative content capabilities shown, stopping misinformation and deepfakes was a very popular topic featured in a keynote. The solution involves knowledge of the content frequently communicated through metadata. To that end, Hand (Human & Digital) shared their solution for identity intelligence for notable talent.

    Broadcasting Technologies

    Leveraging capabilities of 5g, XGN featured their solution that enables users to connect direct to mobile to send content from the field – no SIM card required! Cobalt Digital shared their extensive collection of open gear based on 2110, 12G and ultra-low latency. Their gear also supports Rest APIs. Cobalt Digital featured routers, control panels, and multi-viewers for video and audio processing. As might be expected with the continual increased resolution, a new video compression standard is being rolled out and is already rolled out in Brazil, LCEVC. In the LCEVC showcase, all the providers with their next generation of tech leveraging LCEVC were on display. Ateme also focuses on compression – for the purpose of technologies such as the Apple Vision Pro which they showed off in the exhibition. Once you created all your content, if you wanted to manage the programming data so it is accurate in every tv program listing, Titan TV shared their solution. If you wanted to optimize the way in which you manage ad campaigns, Showseeker shared their solution to simplify advertising scheduling.

    For those seeking cost effective or additional footprints to deliver content or to serve an unserved area, Varnish presented their highly cost-effective region. HP demonstrated their HP Anywhere enabling remote teams to leverage power that was not on the remote site. Storj, the sustainable storage solution that leverages unused electronic storage space that we covered in Conference Whispers: World Crypto Con Las Vegas 2019 and last year’s Conference Whispers: 100th Anniversary NAB Show.

    For those requiring the ability to manage the labor and payroll for that remote labor, Procrewz shared their solution. If keeping track of and on top of all the compliance requirements for broadcast and streaming is your challenge, Vela exhibited their product.

    Broadcast stars and the creator economy

    NAB Show also featured technology and solutions to support the creator economy.  In Vimeo’s session they stated that one can expect 2% of free YouTube subscribers to convert to a paid subscriber on Vimeo. For those wishing to participate in a reality show about making creators or leverage it for advertising, the team from the TV show Follow Me had a lively panel. The central Main Stage featured an interview with Jennifer Hudson. During the interview Jennifer told the audience that she is always cheering for everyone. A great session on diversity in broadcasting featured the Las Vegas Aces Alysha Clark who majored in broadcasting during her college career. Alysha Clark made the great point to all that inclusion means opening prime spots to diversity be it tv slots or board and executive spots in corporate America.

    Next Year’s Conference

    NAB Show is held every year in Las Vegas since 1991. The next NAB Show will occur April 5-9, 2025, in Las Vegas, NV.

    *When vendors’ names are shared as examples in this document, it is to provide a concrete example of what was on display at the conference, not an evaluation or recommendation. Evaluation and recommendation of these vendors are beyond the scope of this specific research document. Other examples products in the same category may have also been on display.

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    ©2019-2024 TBW Advisors LLC. All rights reserved. TBW, Conference Whispers, Industry Whispers, Vendor Whispers, Technical Business Whispers, Whisper Reports, Whisper Studies, Whisper Ranking and Fact-based Research and Advisory are trademarks or registered trademarks of TBW Advisors LLC. This publication may not be reproduced or distributed in any form without TBW’s prior written permission. It consists of the opinions of TBW’s research organization which should not be construed as statements of fact. While the information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, TBW disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of such information. TBW does not provide legal, or investment advice and its research should not be construed or used as such. Your access and use of this publication are governed by the TBW Usage Policy. TBW research is produced independently by its research organization without influence or input from a third party. For further information, see Fact-based research publications on our website for more details.

  • Conference Whispers: 100th Anniversary NABShow

    Conference Whispers: 100th Anniversary NABShow

    Analyst: Dr. Doreen Galli

    ABSTRACT

    The 100th Anniversary of NABShow, National Association of Broadcasters Conference, was held in Las Vegas from April 15-19. It is the premier event for content professionals in the media, entertainment, and technology ecosystem seeking to create superior and innovative audio and video experiences. The conference featured over635,000 net square feet of exhibits, more than 1200 exhibitors, 700+ educational courses and sessions, and over 65,000 attendees from an amazing 166 countries. Attendees witnessed endless examples of cloud enabled remote production, early implementations of generative AI, and discussions on sustainability in production and technical security for remote live production.