The 2024 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show delivered groundbreaking ways that technology will enhance coverage of the upcoming 2024 US Presidential Elections and also transform sports media at the two-day event held in New York at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 9–10.

Ahead of the 2024 general elections in the United States, broadcast journalists have been preparing for extensive election coverage using emerging technologies.

With the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election weeks away and major sports events approaching, the annual gathering of broadcast, media, and entertainment professionals was hosted just at the right time.

Among the numerous discussions during the Election Coverage Summit, Chris Black of Vizrt detailed how the urge to maintain audience trust and ensure safety have been impacted by the presence of Artificial Intelligence, which has given rise to misinformation, deepfakes and AI-generated content.

"The danger of AI is what we are able to see every day. We are getting close to an election, we are seeing AI-generated content coming out that is falsifying certain things or misrepresenting a lot of content. The ability for AI to allow you to produce a lot of content very quickly means the first people who take on technology are bad actors who want to do something mischievous with it," he said.

Emphasizing the benefits of AI, Chris noted, "The opportunity is what I have been talking about, the AI systems of production being able to allow you to do more things faster, to be able to get to your audience in the different places that they are. And being able to take all the complexities and shrink it to one person who is being able to achieve all of these is fantastic."

Despite the immense benefits AI adds to accelerate change across media production, there is also a concern it might replace humans, but according to PostPerspective editor-in-chief Randi Altman, "I don't see it taking over the creatives. I do see it building the opportunity for jobs, so that people who say 'I am working for Uber Eats,’ if they train themselves in AI, there will be jobs for them. There will be a new avenue for employment. It is helping with more demanding things, will that change? Maybe. But right now, I think we are okay. I really think it's helping to make things easier because even journalists use ChatGPT as a head start, but it's not real writing. It's not how humans write."

The event, which drew more than 12,000 attendees alongside 250 exhibiting companies, featured Bridge Technologies, who believe the latest HDR technologies could transform the future of sports coverage.

With many media conglomerates searching for simple ways to broadcast, Simen K. Frostad, Chairman and co-founder of Bridge Technologies, shared that, "Since the Olympics, everybody is flocking to High Dynamic Range (HDR). You have to be able to deliver any significant kind of content in HDR. We now have the capability to do highly advanced HDR previewing in a web browser with extreme accuracy. You can now control the speaker also from the web browser, we have quite a lot of new stuff."

"In the future, we are considering usability, where people can do a lot more with less. The other thing is the capability of scaling everything, where you have 36 cameras and everything can be controlled remotely," he added.

Touching on the rise of remote work after the emergence of Covid-19, Senior Product Manager at Adder, John Halksworth, noted that their AdderLink Infinity Range could serve a vital role in creating a safe working space where data is not compromised.

"We are following the theme of the same experience you have at home as well as in the office, trying to support healthier work-life balance. Remote working is now more acceptable these days but we need to provide the technology that makes people do the work, and that's where we are aiming to go," John Halksworth said.

In his address at one of the seminars, photographer and keynote speaker Simon Lewis challenged the audience on how to commercialize their photography work and encouraged photographers looking to get into the world of motion.

"If there's one thing I want you all to take home, it is that you don't get comfortable and stay in your lane. Challenge yourself to do something different. I want you to think about one thing you have wanted to do but haven't, or are scared of doing. It could be something that has been on your list, because for me, doing video has always been on the list. If it works, great and if it doesn't work great, because then you don't have to do it again. You know it doesn't fit and you know you gave it a try."

Organized by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the event brought together industry leaders, technologists, and journalists to tackle the most pressing challenges and opportunities reshaping how news and sports content is created, distributed, and consumed.

More than 75 educational sessions were held across the two days. Exhibitors included major technology players such as Avid, Blackmagic Design, EVS, Evertz, Grass Valley, Lawo, Panasonic, Ross Video, and Sony, reflecting the breadth of innovation on display across production, distribution, and monetization workflows.

The 2024 NAB Show New York concluded with the industry better equipped, to handle the demands of elections, sports and entertainment production as well as the use of AI to deliver accurate, engaging, and real-time content like never before.