NAB Show Trends To Pay Attention To
It was no surprise that NAB Show 2024, produced annually by the National Association of Broadcasters, had far more than global leaders and service providers from the broadcasting industry in attendance. Programming was focused on showcasing new possibilities for productions, new ways to reach and engage audiences, and also new models to monetize content as the broadcast industry continues to experience seismic shifts.
Based on the programming and 3 halls-worth of show floor across the Las Vegas Convention Center grounds, here are the trends that those creating and selling content should pay attention to.
Video Content Is Getting Interactive
More generations of audiences are expecting ways to interact with media and entertainment content. From social media, to gaming platforms and even emerging choose-your-own-adventure style streaming experiences, it is becoming less normal to only engage with content by watching it. Even YouTube is getting in on the game with Playables.
Alice & Smith’s Beat the BUZZR second screen experience was showcased at the Microsoft booth at NAB Show. It syncs with specific BUZZR programming in real-time in order for players to interact with the show that they’re watching through trivia, missions, polls, interactive ads and more, including the potential for real-time adjustments to storylines based on audience choices if productions plan for this. The demo showcased classic game show network content from Fremantle. Alice & Smith’s Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer Rabih Sebaaly believes that “the shift towards more interactive and personalized content isn't just an option…it's a strategic imperative to captivate modern audiences and sustain relevance” because audience members are increasingly seeking a “participatory role in their entertainment”.
This added layer of interactivity also unlocks new monetization opportunities. These moments of interaction can be “tailored to the needs of advertisers, content creators, and viewers” making it more compelling for all parties. Sebaaly shared that they can also be matched to specific instances, like an exciting moment for the character on screen, increasing the relevancy and viewer retention.
Game Engine Adoption is Accelerating
Game engines like Epic Game’s Unreal Engine are becoming increasingly important for creators across mediums. The Unreal Engine Media and Entertainment Summit during NAB Show celebrated CBS Sports’ use of this tool for Super Bowl LVIII, integrating its features to create everything from a VR experience to transport viewers to a virtual replica of the Las Vegas Strip, to real-time 3D graphic packages and augmented reality integration in broadcast.
The features available to create high quality films and TV series with virtual production for all budgets continue to expand in availability and use. There was in fact an entire hall at the show dedicated to virtual production tools. What is most exciting is that game engine creation means you can invest in building assets for your story world that can expand to multiple mediums from series to games to mixed or virtual reality experiences.
Rising Impact of the Creator Economy
Marc Hustvedt, President at MrBeast, shared during a fireside chat with Inside the Creator Economy’s Jim Louderback that “half of all watch time on YouTube is on connected TVs” and that YouTube watchtime surpasses that of Netflix. Creators who publish content directly also get more access to viewer insights that can inform future successful content.
As content creation tools continue to become more accessible and powerful, creators initially building their brands on social media platforms have great potential to expand their IP to longer-form content, and more. This goes beyond only MrBeast-level creators signing deals with streamers like Amazon. “There’s a shift to longer form content” shared Hustvedt. While longer form content used to be about 20 minutes, they’ve been “testing a lot longer” content, even up to 40 minutes. This also helps generate more revenue opportunities, while creating stories with more depth and inspiring deeper connections with audiences.
AI Tools for Production
It felt like there was a tidal wave of tools leveraging various forms of AI for all phases of production. While a few companies shared that they were simply built on OpenAI technology, this did not take away from their use for creative teams of all sizes. From generative AI being added to Adobe’s Premiere Pro, to video summarization powered by AWS, to Quickture’s AI suite of AI editing tools, AI tools were integrated across all show floors for production and more.
Lori H. Schwartz is CEO & Principal of StoryTech, and partners with NAB Show’s curation and content team on programming and show floor tours which highlight industry trends, experiences and exhibitors. She shares that “AI solutions will drive efficiencies allowing resources in media and entertainment to focus on less laborious tasks, causing budgets to focus more on human creativity, exploration, ingenuity rather than overhead and deep infrastructure.” It will also create a “democratization of tool sets for independent filmmakers, who after Covid, the guild strikes, and tech company layoffs are setting up their own shops with down the funnel workflow specializations.”
Schwartz also highlighted that many people’s concerns with AI - beyond job loss - revolve around the issues of deep fakes and audiences’ inability to understand the difference between AI and human-generated content and news. But the optimistic view is that “AI itself will solve a lot of these issues as we move towards putting controls in place to identify and validate content.” Our entertainment and tech industries, governments and consumer groups will need to take action.
AI Tools to Increase Content Accessibility
“AI” truly seemed to be integrated into booth signage across the show floors. Schwartz explains that “one of the important aspects of the show and one of the roles of the NAB Show Floor Tours provided by StoryTech was to break down the hype of “AI” into specific use cases so that attendees could understand real world applications like machine learning, predictive analytics and generative tool sets.” An example of a specific use case for machine learning “which refers to the use of algorithms to enable computers to learn from data and make decisions or predictions” is to make content more accessible through captions, transcriptions and even language localization. Language localization through AI can even include dubbing with tools like Deepdub to help contribute to monetizing content in more markets.
And this trend is relevant for broadcasters through to video on streaming platforms as well. “Gen Y and Z are now more open to watching more subtitled pieces of longer form content. This is driven by the practice of TikTok and other short form video social platforms to use subtitles for global engagement. This is literally creating new generations of audiences who no longer find subtitles annoying or ‘too artsy’.”
The Cloud is For More Than Storage
The sky’s the limit with cloud computing when it comes to content across formats. “Everything is moving to the cloud,” shared Schwartz. There was a rise in approaches to new workflows involving “real time gaming engines coupled with cloud-based solutions that allow for global and remote workforces” shared Schwartz.
At NAB Show, BBC presented their success story on how Cloudfirst.io and AWS helped them to preserve 100 years of BBC history with their digital archive transformation. Brian Campanotti, Cloudfirst.io’s Digital Transformation Visionary, shares that with “a global trend toward digital archive migration to cloud, in many cases, little is known about these vast digital archives aside from some limited descriptive metadata for each asset limiting future access and searchability. By adding advanced AI to the “in-flight” asset migration process, Cloudfirst.io is enriching the searchability for client archives, empowering enhanced archive discovery, exposing additional repurposing paths, and ultimately enhancing future monetization opportunities.”
The company co-developed Media2Cloud with AWS which is an open-source framework that enables clients to “experiment with digital archive metadata enrichment including facial recognition, speech-to-text, object and logo detection, and sentiment analysis easily and cost-effectively.”
Expanding Story Experiences Beyond Traditional Screens
Entertainment IP is able to expand to new moments beyond traditional screens both in physical and digital realities. Physical venues such as sports arenas are able to benefit from video and augmented reality content, including advertising integrations, to extend the live entertainment experience. For example, Schwartz shared that “Verizon showcased their 5G and private network solutions which are creating new video models and fan engagement in sports venues.”
Virtual, augmented and mixed reality also had stronger presence and interest this year for many use cases including expanding show and film IP into immersive interactive experiences, with Meta’s Head of Production for the Metaverse Entertainment Team, Eric J. Krueger, referencing examples such as Survivor: Horizon Island, Stranger Things VR and more.
New Approaches to Funding Content
“The shift towards engaging fans and niche content communities in fundraising for projects they are passionate about is a fascinating development” shared Schwartz. “One of the most exciting aspects of this trend is the liberation of talent from the constraints of traditional film and television industry models. Companies like Legion M are leading the way in innovative financial models, utilizing crowdfunding to fund projects and build dedicated audiences. Additionally, the use of decentralized tools driven by innovative filmmakers, entrepreneurs and tech companies [such as] The Squad, Theta Network, and Bingeable are empowering communities to not only contribute to the funding of their favorite projects, but also to share in the profits.”
