NAB Show Kicks Off April 18, Spotlighting Creators, AI, and Streaming
The NAB Show will take place April 18–22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The event will highlight the creator economy, filmmaking, streaming platforms, artificial intelligence, broadcast technology and journalism.
Focus on creators and creator economy
Organizers expanded the Creator Lab in partnership with Adobe and Blackmagic Design. The program emphasizes the business side of content and creator impact.
Sessions include topics such as measuring creator impact and navigating contracts, burnout and business realities. Another session examines how AI is reshaping creator workflows and audience relationships.
Attendance trends and audience shifts
Registration numbers show a sharp rise in creator participation. Attendees identifying as content creators, influencers or podcasters rose about 200% over 2025.
Producers of social media content also increased, up roughly 150%. The trend reflects wider industry interest in digital-native talent and new monetization models.
Programming highlights
The Media and Entertainment Theater, produced with The Ankler, will host insider conversations. One marquee panel, “The Scary-Smart Business of Horror,” will feature creators and studio executives.
Digital-native star Markiplier is among the contributors scheduled to appear. Panels will look at audience-driven IP and emerging financing strategies.
CineCentral and practical filmmaking
CineCentral will focus on cinematic storytelling and production craft. Sir Roger Deakins and his wife and collaborator, James, will appear April 20 at 1:30 p.m.
Workshops will cover tight-budget production planning. Sessions aim to give filmmakers practical tools for maintaining creative intent under constraints.
AI, cloud workflows and new production tech
The show added a second AI Pavilion to the exhibit floor for 2026. The expansion reflects AI’s rapid move from experimentation to practical use in media production.
Programming will examine cloud workflows, AI-assisted editing and novel production technologies. Speakers will address how these tools change creation and distribution.
Enterprise and sports tracks
A new Enterprise Video Strategies track will explore scaling video across communications and marketing. Sessions will cover repeatable virtual production models and measuring ROI.
A separate four-day Sports Summit will bring together leagues, media companies and technology platforms. Dolby plans to demonstrate Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos through Dolby OptiView for live sports delivery.
Streaming summit and executive keynotes
The NAB Show Streaming Summit will feature two fireside keynotes. One will include Robert Schildhouse, who leads direct-to-consumer at BBC Studios and oversees BritBox and BBC Select.
Another keynote will examine how India’s JioHotStar achieved record global streaming scale during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Panels will focus on technical and business lessons from large-scale events.
AI in creative workflows
“The Augmented Studio” session will feature Anil Jain of Google Cloud and Márcia Mayer of Google DeepMind. The talk will cover AI’s role in production, editing and visual storytelling.
Silvia Candiani of Microsoft will lead a session on moving AI from experimentation into real-world media deployments. Another panel will investigate why enterprise video quality varies for viewers.
Filmogaz.com will provide ongoing coverage and analysis from the show floor. NAB Show kicks off April 18 with a spotlight on creators, AI and streaming across multiple tracks and stages.
