NAB 2025 – Notes from the Neon Frontier

The first time I landed in Las Vegas for NAB, many of the old hotels were still standing. This year, they’ve started tearing down the Mirage – a hotel I once called home for the week. Vegas is always under construction – and that includes the NAB venue itself. After decades of stability, the Las Vegas Convention Center added a brand new West Hall in 2021, first opened (fittingly) by the World of Concrete trade show. And sometimes, Vegas does feel like a world of concrete – especially to your feet after a few days on the show floor.

Now they’re demolishing the Central Hall. Last year it was the new North Hall. Watch out, South Hall – you’re probably next.

This constant evolution gave NAB 2025 a slightly odd dynamic. The West Hall’s vast, gleaming floors were filled with large-scale stands, yet exhibitors still grumbled about footfall. The food hall held strong, but sadly, the coffee hadn’t improved.

A quick 10-minute trip in the Boring Company’s Las Vegas Loop deposited you into… a construction site. From there, attendees had to navigate their way to the Lower (only) South Hall, where the atmosphere immediately felt livelier. Perhaps the buzz came from the heavy focus on production tech – giving the whole space a more “TV” vibe. The North Hall, home to camera rigs and virtual tech, looked slick but felt a little underpopulated. The numbers tell the story: 55,000 attendees this year, down from 61,000 in 2024 – around a 10% drop.

But with 53% of them first-time visitors, maybe they’re the ones we should be asking for feedback. Alexia – over to you…

Perspectives from a first-time Nabber:

As a newbie to NAB – but no stranger to trade shows – I came prepared for the scale, the tech, and the inevitable sore feet. But NAB in Las Vegas? That comes with added sparkle, bright lights and late nights…

What struck me most was how the show felt like two distinct events. The West Hall, polished and sprawling, had a different energy to the more production-focused South Hall – where things felt busier, buzzier and more “TV”. The Tesla tunnel (yes, a tunnel full of Teslas) was unexpectedly cool, complete with glowing lights and an air of sci-fi smoothness – but did occasionally feel like it led straight into a construction site.

Across the week, I managed 38 meetings – not counting the stand drop-ins, aisle chats, and impromptu bar debriefs. It was brilliant to see so many DTG members (and prospective ones!) in action, sharing innovations and insights. Special shoutout to AWS and Synamedia – their demos were standout. Watching Simon don a virtual dressing gown to pitch perfume, courtesy of Synamedia’s Senza platform and a healthy dose of AI magic, was a moment I won’t forget.

Was it the buzziest show I’ve been to? Not quite. But the networking was superb – full of familiar faces and new friends, with just the right blend of work and Vegas nightlife. I’m calling it now: IBC could be huge this year.

Massive thanks to everyone for the warm welcome, the brilliant conversations, and the drinks (far too many to mention) – but one highlight has to be the invite to the Sphere. Huge thanks to Andy Lucas at NBCUniversal and James Clark at GeoComply for an unforgettable night.

NAB – I’ll be back!

Alexia Sciplino
Head of Member Engagement, Digital TV Group

Software, Sauce and Sidemen

Evaluating tech at trade shows isn’t what it used to be. In the software era, every conversation has to unpack not just what a product does, but how it’s changed since last time. And if it’s a brand-new release? Even more talking is required to understand the ‘special sauce’ – and whether it can truly transform a workflow or business model.

Gone are the days of simply assessing hardware and giving it a thumbs up or down. It makes today’s trade shows more complex – but also more intriguing.

I didn’t attend the NAB Conference programme this year, but I noticed they were leaning into younger content creators and even launched a ‘Creator Council’ to help bridge old and new ways of thinking. That echoed what we heard at last year’s DTG Summit, where Jordan Schwarzenberger (co-founder of Arcade Media and Sidemen manager) pointed out that younger viewers have already “left the party” of traditional TV – and they’re throwing their own elsewhere.

No shockers on the big topics: AI (obviously), cloud virtualisation, sports-tech convergence, and monetisation in the streaming era. Globally, it’s clear that traditional broadcasters are increasingly feeling the pressure to evolve.

Fast Cars, Fake Faces, and F1 Holograms

Amazon, AWS and Nvidia nailed it when it came to engaging the NAB crowd. Their virtual F1 race setup – complete with e-sports simulators – had attendees queuing up all week. Smartly, they used the experience to generate live content across their stand, showcasing everything from cloud-based news editing to time-addressable media (TAM) and AI-driven storytelling, all hosted on Amazon Bedrock.

And yes, there was a hologram. Specifically, an AI-powered likeness of F1 strategist Ruth Buscombe, who chatted with visitors in multiple languages – thanks to a mash-up of Proto’s Conversational AI tech, Claude via Amazon Bedrock, HeyGen facial animation, and a stack of AWS services including SageMaker, Rekognition and Translate.

Techy interlude alert! You asked, I delivered.

From the Moon to MXL

Saturday morning brought an update from the UHD Forum and UHD Alliance over bagels (talks ongoing), and a lucky seatmate: Rebecca Sirmons, GM and Head of NASA+. She’s gearing up to live-stream the Artemis moon landing in 2027. Not your average breakfast chat – but one streaming engineers will definitely want to follow.

UHD Forum’s service tracker now counts 339 UHDTV services globally – though most, particularly in the UK, are delivered over IP rather than broadcast. France is the exception, planning to shut down HD DTT from 2029, with UHD becoming the default for channels like France 2.

Over at the ATSC 3.0 booth, Next Gen TV was being demoed in all its glory, Now in 76 US markets with Sinclair broadcasting 63 channels using Dolby Atmos. There was a nice demo of 2160 4K HDR over-air in less than 10 Mbps. Still, there’s a way to go politically in the US to get full alignment on an ATSC-3 switchover. Meanwhile, some low-power broadcasters are excited by the possibilities of datacasting.