LAS VEGAS — The 2025 edition of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show took place April 5-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC).
Billed as the largest gathering of media, technology and entertainment professionals, the annual event reported 55,000 registered attendees from 160 countries this year.
It spanned the LVCC’s West, North and South Halls (its Central Hall is closed and under renovation), reported 1,050 global exhibitors, including 125 first-time organizations, and featured more than 1,000 speakers and 550 conference sessions. Twenty-six percent of the show’s attendees were international.
According to Karen Chupka, Managing Director and Executive Vice President, Global Connections and Events at NAB, an effort to attract broadcasters of all types has helped position the show for success in the industry’s changing landscape.
Fifty-three percent of the show’s registrants were first-timers this year and its new markets included Canada, Pakistan, Sweden and Egypt.
“We wanted to expand beyond our core audience … and are working to bring new voices to our stages at the 2025 show, looking at how content-creating has changed,” Chupka said.
New Audiences
Trends in the broadcasting industry include artificial intelligence, cloud virtualization, streaming, sports and the content creator economy.
By introducing new and enhanced features that engaged with these trends, the NAB sought to bring in new attendees.
1. Business of Entertainment Track
The NAB Show’s new Business of Entertainment track was created in partnership with The Ankler, a Hollywood newsletter. Chupka explained that this collaboration helped give the show new reach.
“This track explored some of the media deal-making and content bubbles, new advertising models and the intersection of Hollywood and the creator economy and emerging audience trends,” Chupka shared in a media briefing at the LVCC.
2. Sports Summit
“Sports is driving a lot of what’s happening in the broadcast industry, especially with live broadcasts,” Chupka told TSE. “When the World Cup or Olympics are heading to a location … delegates come to the NAB Show to start that planning process, invest and upgrade their equipment.”
To seize on this momentum, the 2025 NAB Show added a Sports Summit — a three-day program — that allowed attendees to explore the intersection of sports, media and technology.
Tracy Perlman from the NFL and Gotham Chopra from Religion of Sports were featured speakers.
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“The NAB Show brings together the entire sports community … broadcasters, leagues, technology players, policy makers, brands, agents, venues, athletes and influencers, and they’re all coming here to see solutions that are powering the trends in live sports, content production and delivery,” Chupka explained in the media briefing.
3. AI Innovation Pavilion and Increased AI Focus
The NAB Show’s new AI Innovation Pavilion displayed solutions that are transforming media and entertainment, and explored AI-powered content creation, workflow automation and more areas.
The show’s focus on AI spread throughout the LVCC’s halls as well. In PropelME, its startup area, 80% of the companies were in the AI space.
“Artificial intelligence is presenting new opportunities for broadcasters, media and the entertainment industry,” Chupka said in the media briefing. “It’s building large, localized and personalized experiences, streamlining workflows and optimizing engagement.”
4. Expanded Creator Lab and Focus on the Creator Economy
The show’s Creator Lab, which launched in 2024, was partly inspired by the LVCC’s construction, which meant that NAB needed to reorganize the position of certain exhibitors for a few years.
Additionally, with the rise of content creation, Chupka saw an opportunity to grow the event’s audience by building a dedicated space on its show floor for the creator economy.
“Today, everybody is a broadcaster …. and who is coming to the show has changed so much,” Chupka said. “We’re not only getting all of those people that traditionally have come, but also people from the fashion industry, the government, educational institutions and finance, because everybody’s using video these days to tell their stories, and the NAB Show is a place where you can come and find all of the tools and technologies to help you tell your stories.”
The NAB expanded the Creator Lab this year and, situated in the venue’s South Hall, it featured opportunities for content creators from a wide variety of industries. It included exhibitors who want to partner with content creators, such as Adobe, and featured hands-on demos, workshops and panels, and also hosted networking experiences.
Additionally, the association announced the launch of a Creator Council at the event, an advisory group made of influential creators and thought leaders that will help shape NAB’s work with the industry.
According to Chupka, more creators than ever visited the show this year, illustrating the success of the NAB’s efforts.
When working to bring in new audiences, Chupka advised organizers to communicate with exhibitors to highlight how their work boosts ROI.
Organizing Strategies
“It’s important to stay involved with the community that you’re serving and what’s even more important now is trying to figure out what they don’t even know they need,” Chupka told TSE. “Sometimes, especially when you’re at a show that has a core exhibitor base that has been there for a long time, they tend to come in and approach the show with what they know. They don’t always get to hear about the new developments and think about how to tap into them.
“That has become increasingly important, because, as the industry evolves, everybody’s looking for more ROI. It’s vital to help your community to understand some of the new audiences that you’re bringing in and how they can reach them. We have to spend more time as show organizers doing that now than we used to.”
Chupka added that it usually takes around two years for most exhibitors to fully-embrace new initiatives.
She also asserted the value of Las Vegas for business events.
“Las Vegas is a world-class trade show location,” Chupka shared. “The city has so many hotel rooms within the radius of three of the largest convention centers in the U.S. and it knows how to do trade shows. Its labor pool and airport system, including its number of direct flights, make it much more convenient for global shows to be there. Plus, I think the stat that shows typically see about a 30% bounce on their attendance if they’re in Vegas, instead of other locations, is holding true.
“Also, the city is becoming a major sports destination … which is giving people another reason to want to come.”
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