Digital companies are invading broadcast TV's biggest conference

LAS VEGAS --  During Vimeo's first year at the National Association of Broadcasters Show, the online video platform was greeted by confusion.

"Back in the day, I remember people being like 'wait so, online video?'" Andrea Allen, Vimeo's Director of Production, told Mashable. "We were this anomaly."

Fast forward six years and Vimeo has a huge presence on the exhibitor floor with its own lounge and tech-geared activities for attendees. Allen was there not just as a guest, but as a speaker for a "future of storytelling" panel.

Vimeo was not the lone online video player at NAB. The platform was surrounded by other giants in the digital video space including YouTube and Amazon, whose executives keynoted the second-ever online video conference at the NAB Show.

Alongside panels featuring people behind hit shows like Fox's Empire and movies like Disney's The Jungle Book, these digital players may seem out of place at a conference where the "B" stands for, you know, "broadcasters."

But NAB organizers said the digital track has become more of a priority given rapid changes in consumer habits.

"NAB is recognizing these are important companies in the larger ecosystem in which broadcast functions," Will Richmond, editor and publisher of VideoNuze and organizer of the NAB online video conference, told Mashable. "Understanding their strategies and how they can work in the broadcast industry is very important."

In all, the two-day track featured an ambitious agenda of 15 sessions including “YouTube’s Future — Mobile, VR and Putting Content in Context” with YouTube's Chief Product Officer Neal Mohan and “The OTT Landscape: Why Now and What’s Next?” with Amazon's Vice President of Digital Video Michael Paull. 

YouTube even unveiled big news at its presentation: The launch of 360-degree live streaming and spatial audio.

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"Broadcasters are some of our most important partners," Daniel Alegre, President of Global Partnerships at Google, told Mashable in an email before his keynote. "We're working with them more and more closely on everything from distribution, to discovery, to monetization."

This year marked Google's biggest presence ever at the NAB Show, and Alegre said the company was "thrilled to have the opportunity to share a number new products with this audience."

Meanwhile, Paull's speech came just one day after Amazon announced a standalone video subscription service.

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Other panels featured some multi-platform network executives, including Whistle Sports EVP Brian Selander and BroadbandTV CEO Shahrzad Rafati.

"Talking with the audience after the panel on sports was really instructive on the divide within the attendees at NAB," Selander told Mashable in an email interview. "Between people who are aggressively trying to innovate and adapt and those that remain surprised that the life cycle of content creation for young millennial audience can begin with a snap or an inside look through Facebook Live." 

Still, John Clark, executive director on NAB’s PILOT program, said it's about "more than just hearing from organizations int he digital space."

“Broadcasters are and have been part of the digital space for quite some time," he told Mashable. "Operating and innovating here is a part of what it means to be a localbroadcaster. Being digital is a part of being a broadcaster. So, havingorganizations like Amazon or YouTube or the Pew Research Center at the NAB Showis obvious."

As for the future of the conference, Richmond anticipates it will only get "bigger and better."

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