The 2022 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show wrapped up earlier this week, and VITAC again would like to thank everyone who took the time at this year’s show to meet with us, learn more about our products, or just stop by to say “hello.”
Our team had a great time on the show floor, and loved sharing information about all of VITAC’s captioning, subtitling, audio description, transcription, and dubbing services and learning about the newest innovations and solutions in media, entertainment, and technology.
Covering broadcast, cable, streaming, and satellite TV, film, radio, production, and post-production, NAB always is great way to catch up on the newest trends and offerings in the industry. Read below for a few of our show observations and takeaways.
The Community is Back Together. This year’s show, according to organizers, had more than 52,000 registered attendees, including 11,500 international guests from 155 countries. It was great seeing old friends and new faces. It also was great to see a focus on diversity, with an NAB symposium providing strategies for those in the media and entertainment industry looking for more inclusion and equality in the workforce.
Caption Your Clips. The way many of us watch video has changed over the years, with more people turning to social media and channels like YouTube for their content. So it’s no surprise that the desire to make clips and short content accessible is hot topic. Though the FCC doesn’t require captions for clips and short-form videos appearing on third-party sites, videos without captions run the risk of alienating viewers and not reaching their audiences.
“Clients are looking to expand their accessibility strategy beyond linear television to encompass their online videos as well,” said Darryn Cleary, VITAC senior vice president of sales. “A lot more exclusive content is being produced for digital media platforms (web/mobile/social), and consumers are expecting that content to have captions, regardless of which type of device they view it on. VITAC’s solution for clips features the attributes that media and entertainment clients require — automation for workflow efficiency, quick turnaround, high-quality captions, and competitive rates.”
Video Indexing. Our team fielded a few questions on how captions can help content creators index their videos. VITAC can create timecoded transcripts that editors can search to find places to snip their video.
Head in the Clouds. Cloud sharing tools featured heavily this year, and it’s no secret why — the pandemic forced innovation in terms of coordinating work from teams no matter their location.
Audio Description. Audio described content is on the rise and in demand. Look no further than this year’s Oscars, Grammys, and Screen Actors Guild awards broadcasts, all of which were made more accessible by live audio description.
“Clients are also expanding accessibility to their content through audio description — both for long-form and short-form programming,” said Cleary. “VITAC’s solutions include both human voice and synthetic voice to provide more vocal options and to accommodate different client budgets and turnaround requirements.”
A New Reality. Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Extended Reality (XR), and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies were on display at NAB, highlighting new production options for everything from sports coverage to lecture halls. Developers hope these sorts of virtual productions will continue to inspire and influence filmmakers, broadcasters, and mobile video designers.
Captioning Ads. Maybe you’ve noticed that more commercials are featuring captions these days. Though not required by the FCC, businesses are finding that adding something as simple as captions can pay huge dividends when it comes to connecting with consumers, selling their product, and being an inclusive, accessible, and forward-thinking company. Our team met with a number of advertisers and ad agencies at NAB 2022 interested in how the captioning process works and the benefits of making their campaigns accessible to all.
New Streamers. There seem to be more video viewing options than ever these days as new, up-and-coming streaming platforms launch each month. (In 2020, 232 million people watched streaming or downloaded video across all devices in the U.S.) Thankfully, a number of these new streamers are requiring their content to be captioned, but many of their producers are new to the captioning world. A variety of broadcasters and streamers rely on our deep industry experience and knowledge to eliminate problems before they happen, ensure FCC compliance, and provide top-notch 24/7 service to fit every unique need, workflow, and timeline.
New Technologies. The show, as always, focused on new technologies likely to transform the industry in the next decade.
- Though few consumers actually own 8K sets, some producers (streaming services like YouTube TV and Roku and some broadcasters, mainly in Japan and China) are delivering 8K content. The show featured demonstrations of 8K video equipment and technologies, which offer 16 times the resolution of HD and four times the resolution of 4K.
- The show put 5G in the spotlight with a number of sessions discussing the technology, how it pairs with broadcasting, and its role in increasing a broadcaster’s ease and agility in covering live events while helping to keep costs down.