NAB 2025 recap: Creators, captions, content and cutting-edge AI in the spotlight

NAB 2025 is in the books and Verbit again would like to thank everyone who took the time to meet with us in our suite and on the show floor.

Covering broadcast, cable and streaming TV, film and production, NAB always is a great way to catch up with clients, make new connections and chat with industry colleagues. We had a great time talking and learning about the newest innovations and solutions in media, entertainment and technology.

This year’s show attracted more than 60,000 attendees from 160 countries, and focused on developments in a few key areas, including artificial intelligence, the creator economy, sports and streaming services. Read below for a few of our show observations and takeaways.

AI amplifies access, archives and audience engagement

A hot topic at most shows and expos these days, NAB highlighted AI’s role in content creation, workflow automation and audience engagement and featured discussions around how the technology could be leveraged for a variety of tasks, from improving media workflows to personalizing content to analyzing data.

Among the interesting use-cases discussed was how AI can help content owners with extensive back catalogues create richer metadata and tags to make their archives more easily searchable; how AI can be used to review lengthier videos and offer suggestions on how to trim them down to more digestible clips and shorts; and how it can analyze viewing habits and give programmers real-time insights into what types of content their subscribers prefer.

As the worldwide leader in media accessibility, Verbit provides a variety of AI-powered access solutions to broadcasters, cable channels and streaming platforms, such as our advanced AI-driven Captivate™ solution that provides media professionals with live, customizable, highly accurate captions. We heard from customers who continue to embrace Captivate and point to our accuracy, customer service and easy billing as reasons to work with us. We’re also piloting post-production captions via Captivate with a few larger customers and look forward to expanding that offering soon.

Additionally, our Captivate Clips solution offers a fast, affordable and highly accurate way to localize and caption video content in multiple languages, ensuring global reach and accessibility. Captivate Clips leverages AI technology to deliver precise, contextually relevant captions with industry leading accuracy and quick turnaround times in as little as 20 minutes.

We demoed these and other media access solutions at this year’s show, showcasing our AI-generated and human-created live and post-production captions; live sports captions; AI and human voice dubbing, translation and localization services; and human and synthetic audio description as well as a sneak peek at some of the AI-driven media tools we’re working on in our Verbit Labs, such as deepfake detections and emotion and truthfulness analysis.

Verbit’s Adobe Premiere power-up

We announced at NAB 2025 our newest integration with Adobe Premiere Pro, making it even easier for creators to edit, enhance and streamline video workflows.

Available on the Adobe Exchange marketplace, the plugin integrates directly with Premiere, enabling users to submit completed video sequences to Verbit straight from their Premiere Pro project for high-accuracy captions, subtitles and localization without disrupting the editing process. Once submitted, users can track their video’s status in Premiere Pro and download the results directly from Verbit as soon as they’re ready.

“We are thrilled to see Verbit deliver this integration for Adobe users,” said Adobe’s Van Bedient, Director of Strategic Development and Partnerships, Digital Video and Audio. “The new plugin enhances Adobe Premiere Pro’s captioning and transcription capabilities, supporting a wider range of languages with human-refined transcription and translation. It also offers additional services like audio description, dubbing and note-taking. By seamlessly integrating into existing workflows, this tool empowers video professionals to work more efficiently and expand the reach of their content to diverse audiences.”

Verbit offers a comprehensive suite of easy-to-use products and service integrations tailored to the broadcast industry. This latest integration builds on our recent collaborations with IBM Aspera, Signiant and Evertz as well as our inclusion among vendors in the Cvent App Marketplace.

Navigating the European Accessibility Act

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is creating significant waves across the European business landscape. With its broad-reaching mandates aimed at improving accessibility for all, many companies are grappling with the new requirements, leading to a variety of interpretations and implementations. As businesses across Europe work to ensure compliance, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The nuances of the law — from web accessibility to the inclusion of services like captions and audio descriptions — have left some organizations uncertain about the best steps forward.

At Verbit, we’re excited to be a trusted partner in helping European companies navigate these changes. With our deep understanding of accessibility standards and our AI-powered solutions, we’re here to share our expertise and ensure that businesses not only comply with the EAA but also enhance their content’s reach and inclusivity. By offering tailored services in transcription, captioning, translation and localization, we’re committed to helping companies create accessible, engaging experiences for all. We look forward to supporting our customers through this transition, turning challenges into opportunities for growth and inclusion.

Creators take center stage

A big focus at this year’s show was the growing impact and strength of today’s creator economy as NAB doubled the size of its popular “Creator Lab.”

The “creator economy” refers to the lucrative industry made up of individuals (video creators, bloggers, influencers and gamers, among others) who create content, build an audience online and grow their own channels and businesses. There are more than 207 million content creators worldwide today, generating a creator economy estimated at $127.65 billion and expected to reach $528 billion by 2030.

And as creators produce content and jockey for viewers from around the globe, it’s important that they speak to their entire audience. Localizing video content makes it more accessible to different audiences in different locales and ensures that you’re connecting with all your viewers. Video localization — subtitles, dubbing, translations — can help boost a video’s SEO ranking, improve user experience and increase brand awareness. In fact, videos with subtitles or dubbing have six times more engagement than non-localized content.

Verbit, a YouTube Recommended Vendor, offers a wide range of localization solutions for content creators of all types and sizes.

• Dubbing. Verbit’s professional dubbing helps viewers follow along with content with audio available in their native languages. We employ AI technology and voice actors who work in modern studios and use top-of-the-line equipment. Our AI-driven workflows seamlessly integrate with human expertise, allowing for fine-tuning, accent adaptation and emotion refinement where needed and can provide a faster, more scalable, and cost-effective solution for content creators looking to expand their reach.
• Subtitles. Our multi-language experts understand the language skills, cultural knowledge and technical experience required to produce effective live and post-production multi-language captions and subtitles. Our AI and human-generated solutions support 50+ languages and handle dialects, formatting and layout requirements with ease.
• Translation. Verbit helps content creators reach global audiences with translations into more than 50 languages. We use expert human translators and AI to provide accurate translations and convey your content’s messages in a natural way.

Streaming, FAST channels score big

Streaming services have begun to change the landscape of television and live sports.

YouTube last July became the first streaming platform to exceed 10% of total TV viewership. Nielsen reported that streaming services accounted for a little more than 41% of TV viewership that same month with Peacock reaching 1.5% of total TV viewing, while Amazon and Roku reached 3.4% and 1.6% of TV viewership, respectively.

In the sports arena, streaming providers are competing with traditional broadcasters for the rights to broadcast live sports. A Nielsen Gracenote report noted that five of the leading global subscription video on-demand (SVOD) platforms — Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix and Paramount+ — have increased their live sports offerings by 72% since late 2024, underscoring the value of sports as a driver of viewership and an important piece of their content strategies.

FAST (Free Ad-Supported Streaming TV) channels are another emerging platform in sports distribution.

FAST platforms like Pluto, Roku and Tubi have gotten in on sports action and several FAST channels like NBC Sports Now and PFL Network offer sports content. For instance, Super Bowl LIX was broadcast live on Fox-owned Tubi earlier this year and generated 13 million viewers, showing an appetite for fans who want to watch sports on free streaming platforms.

A 2024 Amagi Global FAST Report found that live sports content on FAST platforms is rapidly growing, with a 65% increase in live sports hours. The US and Canada saw triple-digit growth in sports channel viewership and impressions, contributing to 60% of global viewership, while sports channel viewership quadrupled in European, Middle Eastern and African countries.

Podcast power plays

Podcasting continues to surge in popularity. There are more than 584 million podcast listeners worldwide — a number that is projected to reach 651 million by 2027 — and ad spending is expected to hit $4.46 billion this year.

As competition increases, creators are exploring strategies to retain listeners and boost revenues. AI-powered tools are playing a key role, enabling podcasters to repurpose episodes into bite-sized content for social media, newsletters and other promotional channels, helping expand reach and engagement.

Whether it’s captions, subtitles or localization solutions, Verbit works with podcasters to make their audio and video content more accessible and more engaging to audiences.

We also provide a flexible transcription solution for podcasts that helps platforms, producers and networks connect with larger audiences. We offer transcripts in multiple languages, turnaround times to fit tight production schedules, speaker identification and delivery in a variety of formats compatible with all major podcasting platforms, including SiriusXM, iTunes, Audible and Stitcher.

Rely on the experts

As the media world continues to evolve, Verbit is proud to be at the forefront — helping creators, broadcasters and platforms stay ahead with smarter, faster and more inclusive solutions. From AI-driven captions to global localization tools, we’re here to support content creators of all kinds as they reach wider audiences and tell their stories more powerfully than ever.