NAB Rides Into Vegas

There’s no INTX this week, which leaves some folks with time to hit up the NAB Show in Vegas. It’s not the new Cable Show by any means, but there are some familiar industry names on the roster. Altice USA chmn/CEO Dexter Goei will deliver Tuesday’s keynote. Another sign that this isn’t your over-the-airhead gathering from days of yore is Monday’s “Content at the Center of Media Transformation,” which is the first time CTAM has partnered with the NAB Show. Fox Networks’ Jamia Bigalow, Lionsgate’s Thomas Hughesand Revolt’s JB Brown are on a panel moderated by CTAM pres/CEO Vicki Lins. There’s a breakout on IFC’s “Brockmire,” delving into how a viral video short from Funny or Die made the jump to the net. Other cable execs participating in sessions include Turner Sports chief content officer Craig Barry and Comcast Technology Solutions’ Josh Arensberg. “NAB Show has always been an annual destination for thousands of cable executives. We anticipate even greater participation this year given the extra emphasis our conference planners made in tailoring additional sessions for our friends in cable,” NAB spokesman Dennis Whartonsaid. GABBCON is hosting the Ad Innovation Lab at the show, which includes execs from Turner, Fox and Viacom discussing their OpenAP audience addressability announcement (requires a separate ticket).That’s another sign that the NAB Show has moved beyond its broadcast beginnings. “About 1/3 of the [Innovation Lab’s] audience is brands and agencies, which isn’t very typical for an NAB Show. That’s one of the things we set out to do is to try and get a different audience there this year,” said GABBCON CEO Gabe Greenberg.