With artificial intelligence and the creator economy in the spotlight, the 2024 NAB Show brought together more than 61,000 attendees and 1,300 exhibitors in the broadcast, media and entertainment industry together at the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 13-17.
“We’re blown away to see over half of our attendees this year experiencing NAB Show for the first time,” said Karen Chupka, incoming evp and managing director, NAB Global Connections and Events. “This, and the strong international attendance, proves that NAB Show is where global storytellers come to find the tools and technologies needed to create, distribute and monetize content.”
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From AI-powered production tools to immersive virtual reality experiences to the latest tech for broadcast and delivery, and everything in between, the ever-evolving landscape of media creation and consumption came to life on a very busy show floor, powered by vibrant—and often analog—experiences. We present the engagement strategies that pulled us in.
AWS: Whiteboards, Magnets
AWS’s booth accommodated a variety of engagements.
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment had a commanding presence across the floor, complete with sessions at the NAB Show Live stage and AWS Partner Village. The brand’s exhibit featured a cloud-based newsroom, in partnership with NVIDIA, where attendees could witness live cloud production in real-time, engage in stations highlighting key industry issues from content production to monetization, as well as participate in a Generative AI Playground and AWS Builder Zone, where attendees could get their questions answers by the experts. Along with the screens, this part of the footprint also featured whiteboards (used for the first time in this exhibit) and magnet tiles representing various tools and services that could be physically maneuvered to map out the best solution.
Over in South Hall, attendees could tee off at Full Swing, the official simulator partner of the PGA Tour, with a realistic experience powered by AWS. They could also design their dream golf hole with the brand’s generative AI tools and walk away with a customized golf poster. Now, if they could also design the course and then virtually play it, too, that would be even more cool.
Microsoft: Classic Games
Gamification in the Microsoft footprint.
AI and data reimagining the media landscape was the focus of Microsoft’s presence at the show, and one of the real-time ways it was showcased was through the Beat the BUZZR experience at the Capitalize Zone, adjacent to the brand’s booth. Leveraging the collaborative strengths of the brand along with NVIDIA and an extensive partner ecosystem, game show classics like Family Feud and Supermarket Sweep came to life with quizzes and personalized insights for viewers, along with new monetization strategies for content owners. Judging by the full house of Gen X-ers enjoying the game, the activation was a prime example of how an AI-powered experience effectively draws in the intended audience and keeps them engaged.
MRMC: ‘Attractivation’
A driving experience demonstrates camera motion control.
Vroom! MRMC partnered with Vū and Nikon to showcase breakthrough camera robotics and virtual production capabilities, with Unreal Ride, an interactive experience that blended physical and virtual worlds and captured it all using motion control. Attendees took the wheel of a custom-made sports car and “took it for a spin” through cities, nature and psychedelic tunnels, it being Vegas and all. The wind in the hair was real, and so were the thrills and the footage.
Canon: Live Music
Live music stood out on the show floor.
With a massive lineup of products, Canon chose to set up production sets ranging from a romantic beachside dinner to a workout space to a city-street meetup, to offer hands-on demos that tapped into a variety of attendees’ interests and needs. A highlight of this space was the live production set that featured mini-concerts by a violinist or a band. At a show with, well, lots of production sets, Canon’s stood out for creativity and attention to detail. Live music provided a perfect soundtrack.
Pixelscore: Competition
Table tennis, anyone?
To showcase how Pixelscore automates sports broadcasting with AI, the brand invited attendees to a table tennis tournament where they could share the excitement of the game while the high-speed cameras and real-time processing were doing all the heavy lifting—picking the best angles, creating real-time stats and, in general, handling dynamic sports action without human intervention. All we humans had to do was watch and enjoy.
Insta360: Deep Dives and Demos
Content sessions were followed by hands-on demos.
The action camera maker brought a crowd to its booth with a lineup of exclusive Creator Sessions that featured pro-YouTuber David Manning as well as other photographers and videographers. Sharing the space and learning straight from industry experts remains a key driver for attendees. Insta360 had a full house of attendees taking in the action on the stage and exploring the equipment firsthand afterward.
Bonus: Hands-on Rules
Color is making a comeback.
Granted, NAB is the kind of show where attendees come to get their hands on equipment, but tactile experiences were an effective engagement tactic across the floor. In the Capitalize Zone, attendees voted with colored balls on the trends with the most impact in media and entertainment this year, with generative AI for production and post-production getting the highest bar in this live chart. In the Create Zone, attendees took a break from all the digital tools to make their mark on the Create and Color wall, a color-by-numbers activation by Fancy Features. Just like a good show, the beautiful picture of a production set was an enthusiastic team effort.
