Streaming continues its takeover of video delivery as the border between linear and on-demand viewing continues to fray. This has kept the spotlight on replication of full broadcast quality over the internet, as well as on protecting against revenue theft for valuable live content, especially sports. The rise of AI has played into all these themes and will be much in evidence at NAB 2025.

Delegates will have the chance to assess whether growing optimism that AI can at last bear down on live sports piracy is justified. This is significant because so far tools and technologies that have been deployed against live sports piracy, notably forensic watermarking, have largely failed to stem the tide.

A compendium of estimates puts the loss to sports bodies and rights holders from live stream piracy at close to $30 billion in 2024 and still rising annually at around 30%. There is now hope that application of AI in advanced content recognition and detection systems can improve the network forensics required to identify when illicit stream redistribution is occurring, or about to happen. This in turn just might reduce the real annual growth in losses.

In other domains AI is already reaping benefits, for example in service personalization, which is a key theme for Appear, a major exhibitor at NAB 2025. “We are excited to see what developments have taken place in terms of leveraging AI for real-time data analysis and how this can be used to take personalization to the next level and how we can integrate it into our innovation roadmap,” said Matthew Williams-Neale, Appear’s VP of Marketing.

As this comment suggests, these are still early days for application of AI in personalization. The comment also underlines the importance of major events such as NAB for vendors as a source of feedback from customers and partners.

It enables dialogues in both directions, for vendors to demonstrate new products and outline plans, while learning what direction customers and partners are heading in. There is also the chance to hear what competitors are up to and calibrate roadmaps accordingly.

“NAB Show offers a great forum to meet with customers, old and new, to hear about their current challenges and future opportunities, and we are looking forward to holding these discussions,” confirmed Williams-Neale. “It’s also important for us to understand the emerging technologies shaping the future of broadcasting and tradeshows like NAB are a perfect place to see which trends are most important.”

Two other major themes at NAB 2025 on the streaming front are hybrid environments combining cloud with on-premise systems, and as ever remote production. The former is notable because cloud itself has been prominent at recent events and still will be at NAB 2025. But it will be tempered by the reality that hybrid set ups including premises systems where edge processing and analytics can be performed more effectively with lower latency will help broadcasters drive down costs.

Then as Williams-Neale underscored, “Remote production is increasingly important in the sports market, as service providers try to balance handling an increasing demand for high-value live content with a need to reduce production costs.”

Vendor Focus

Appear (Booth W 2042) are presenting two new products at NAB Show 2025, focused on live video contribution and hybrid cloud/on-premise workflows. First, the X5 extends the firm’s existing X Platform further into live production, featuring remote contribution, and cloud-based workflows. 

According to Williams-Neale, strengths include “best-in-class compression, ultra-low latency, and seamless IP connectivity. The X5 is the ideal solution for Tier 1 broadcasters seeking more agile remote production options, as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 operators looking for a cost-effective, high-quality media transport solution.”

The X5 was built for live production, remote contribution, and cloud-based workflows, with a focus on compression efficiency, ultra-low latency, and transparent IP connectivity.

Second, the VX Media Gateway is the first major addition to Appear’s continually evolving VX software-based media processing platform, designed for hybrid cloud/on-premise workflows. “This simplifies seamless, scalable media transport for broadcasters and service providers embracing software-defined architectures,” said Williams-Neale. He added that it brought lower latency, better integration, and enhanced security.

Elecard (Booth W 2246) have been in the video encoding, transcoding and monitoring business since 1988. Along the way they have been an innovator at key stages of the evolution of streaming. Today they produce highly efficient encoding and transcoding products and offer bespoke services that have earnt them partnerships with a number of key industry streamers. At NAB the streaming aspect of their product portfolio will see the announcement of new variations of their CodecWorks platform. This includes CW Transcoder, CW Mux (multiplexer, packager and scrambler) and CW Gateway (protocol switcher and re-streamer).

Zixi (Booth W 1929). With no major product announcements around its Software Defined video platform, Zixi will focus on partners and customers at NAB 2025, according to the company. Top of the bill will be a joint presentation by Zixi’s CEO Marc Aldrich and CTO Mike Kralec at customer Sinclair, the second-largest TV station operator in the US. Kralec will outline Zixi’s role in Sinclair’s digital transformation involving migration of broadcasting operations to the cloud. “Their flexible and reliable solutions have given us the stability we need to manage our diverse nationwide network, while also opening up new opportunities to integrate with our distribution partners,” said Kralec.

Among partners joining Zixi on its stand will be developer of machine learning based tools for broadcasters Magnifi.ai for a demonstration of automated highlight clipping for sports and news content, harnessing metadata analysis, AI-driven tagging, and real-time automation.

Second, addressable advertising specialist Showfer Media and Zixi will debut a platform designed to simplify advertising across diverse ecosystems, integrating with various content platforms for localization, and satellite augmentation to enhance accuracy of device positioning.

Thirdly, live graphics technology vendor Singular.live will demonstrate its integration with Zixi, showing how it delivers broadcast-quality graphic overlays with ultra-low latency to support use cases such as Live Event Contribution and Localization. Zixi customers can replace expensive, legacy graphics systems with Singular’s modern, HTML5-based approach.

Finally, video encoding and processing technology developer Videon will exhibit native Zixi integration within its LiveEdge Platform, a video edge computing device optimized for REMI production, real-time live streaming, graphics, and advertising.

Conclusion

The primacy of live sports streaming is acknowledged at NAB 2025 by the staging of the Sports Summit: The Future of Sports Rights and Fan Experience, which is a three-day program exploring technologies and viewing trends that are transforming the experience of fans and casual viewers alike, both inside the venues and remotely. Live sports is the one sure source of continuous or even increasing revenues for both streaming platforms and rights holders, including sports bodies and clubs.

All these parties will be represented at the event, and associated issues of personalization, immersive experiences, remote production, and revenue protection, will feature prominently. There will also be interest in the role of streaming and remote production in connecting second-tier sports to audiences, and generating valuable revenues for the bodies and clubs involved. 

Other articles in this NAB 2025 'Show Focus' series:

The Broadcast Bridge will be at the NAB Show – in the West Hall on booth W 3932. Please come and see us and share your thoughts on what we do and what you would like to see from us in the coming year.