What we saw at NAB 2025 — 6 trends defining the future of media & advertising

The first in a two-part series examining the key themes from NAB Show 2025 and what they mean for media leaders.

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Every year, the NAB Show serves as a pulse check on where the media and advertising industry is headed. This year it felt like the future was finally starting to take shape.

Our team attended packed sessions, met with networks, digital publishers, and AdTech platforms—and clear patterns emerged from these conversations.

Here’s what stood out most at NAB 2025.

1. AI beyond the hype cycle

The show floor confirmed that AI has moved firmly into its practical implementation phase. Rather than futuristic concepts, vendors demonstrated real applications focused on solving specific workflow problems—particularly around data orchestration, cleaning, and movement between systems.

Microsoft's Sports Business Hub provided one of the most compelling demonstrations of this trend, showing how AI can power personalized sports broadcasts without replacing existing infrastructure. Their approach highlighted how AI is becoming less about flashy demos and more about integrating with and enhancing established operations.
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2. Convergence: The operational reality gap

While convergence of linear and digital advertising remains a strategic priority, the candid conversations at NAB revealed just how challenging implementation continues to be for most organizations.

Multiple media executives admitted off the record that despite promising unified solutions to advertisers, their backend systems remain disconnected—requiring manual processes to deliver on these promises. The gap between convergence strategy and operational reality emerged as perhaps the most pressing challenge facing media companies today.

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3. Sports content and sports technology takes center stage

The three-day Sports Summit was consistently packed, demonstrating how media rights investments are driving technological innovation. The intersection of sports, technology, and monetization dominated discussions about audience engagement and revenue growth.

We saw it first hand as AWS's F1 simulator drew consistent crowds, showcasing how live data creates opportunities across production workflows, viewer experiences, and monetization.

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4. The creator economy enters the mainstream

With the creator economy now valued at over $250 billion globally, the show devoted unprecedented resources to this sector, including The Creator Lab—a dedicated space for digital creators to engage with new tools and resources.

The formation of NAB's new Creator Council, comprised of influential content creators and thought leaders, signaled the organization's recognition that independent content producers are fundamentally reshaping traditional media business models. This council will guide NAB's future engagement with the creator economy, ensuring it remains relevant as the landscape evolves.
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5. Cloud as essential infrastructure

Cloud technologies were omnipresent, with virtually every major vendor showcasing cloud-native solutions rather than on-premises alternatives. The focus has clearly shifted from migration considerations to optimization strategies that eliminate manual handoffs and data rekeying.

Sony and Verizon made major product announcements at the show, with Verizon introducing a portable Private 5G Network framework specifically designed to reduce technical challenges for live broadcasters—demonstrating how cloud and connectivity are becoming inseparable parts of modern media operations.
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6. The OMS Reset

Throughout the show, we observed and discussed with numerous companies in various stages of transitioning between order management systems (OMS). This "OMS chaos" highlighted a critical insight: even next-generation platforms leave significant gaps in the convergence workflow that require specialized solutions to bridge.

Several media companies shared their transition experiences during panel discussions, revealing the complexity involved in maintaining business continuity while upgrading core sales and traffic systems—an area where integration challenges remain prevalent.
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What this means for advertising & media organizations

This NAB Show made clear that the media and advertising technology landscape has never been more fragmented. The explosion of specialized systems—each excelling at its core function—has created unprecedented data discontinuity across the advertising workflow.

The most successful organizations we encountered weren't those with the most advanced individual systems, but those who had solved the integration challenges between them. Looking ahead, competitive advantage will increasingly come from the ability to effectively bridge data silos, connect disparate systems, and automate workflows that currently require manual intervention.

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In Part 2 of this series, we'll explore how leading organizations are moving beyond the convergence conversation to build practical solutions that drive real results.