M+E Europe

Even in a normal year, packing in all the industry trends and emerging technologies that come out of the NAB Show into one 30-minute overview is a tremendous challenge.

For Chris Evans, senior market analyst with Futuresource Consulting, offering up a concise summary of the 2022 NAB Show, the first one in-person since the start of the pandemic, took more work than any previous NAB Show review he’s ever attempted.

At the June 8 Global Media & Entertainment Day, held at the Royal Garden Hotel in London and via the MESAverse virtual platform, Evans examined what was showcased at NAB, and how it reflects the innovation taking place in the industry right now. His round-up of the major trends impacting the media and entertainment business centred on collaborative efforts that are transforming the sector, with NAB being the centre locale to debut the new tech.

“We’ve been without a physical presence for this show since 2019, and for many companies there was a bit of hesitancy on whether to attend, the challenges [of being in-person],” Evans said. “But from our perspective, it was a very positive experience.”

The debut of exhibits at the new West Hall, and the closure of the South Hall, at the Las Vegas Convention Center led to a positive consolidation and reorganisation of the exhibits, Evans said, who noted that while the number of exhibitors wasn’t at pre-pandemic levels, “the quality was much higher, because there was more purpose and intent from those people who did attend in person,” he said. He sees that trend continuing with the September IBC Show in Amsterdam, with those braving travel during COVID-19 putting on an especially purpose-driven appearances, and “being a cut above what we get online.”

With technology showcases, there’s no comparison between debuting it online, and having people touch and feel it in person. And no corner of emerging media and entertainment technology at NAB was that more obvious than with virtual production, which became a practical necessity because of the pandemic. “It’s become even more widely available [and] we’ve seen a proliferation of this technology,” Evans said. “It’s come about from disparate technologies …advances in LED wall technology, from the B2B display industries, and we have game engine technology, where we can [create] in real time in a studio environment for VFX, and lastly, we have performance [enhancements] with camera tracking.

“It’s another tool in our arsenal of producing content, one that’s been incredibly useful during COVID.”

Broadcast infrastructure migration and further reliance on cloud technologies were among the other major trends Futuresource took home from NAB.

Check back here for a video of the full presentation.

The Global Media & Entertainment Day was produced by MESA, in association with the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) and the Smart Content Council and was presented by Box with sponsorship by Signiant, Convergent Risks, Whip Media, and Xcapism Learning.