Since 2016, the Digital Futures Conference at NAB Show has brought together bright minds to discuss strategies for leveraging current opportunities for increasing engagement and earning more revenue in a multi-platform world. Those strategies have never been more important than now. We find ourselves working through myriad challenges while we continue to look forward and devise strategies for a post-COVID-19 society.

NAB Show Express

We’ve designed this “express” version of Digital Futures through the lens of the 2020 pandemic. As in years past, this event is meant for digital officers, managers, general managers, strategists, account managers and technologists at media companies of all types.

Register now and join us online on May 13-14, 2020 at NAB Show Express.

Digital Futures Sessions

Audience, Advertising, a Pandemic and the Future

As orders were issued for people to work from home, broadcasters opened their homes to viewers and listeners to ensure the public was protected, informed and comforted.

Audiences turned to local broadcasters and consumption rose to historic levels across platforms. However, the inverse was true for advertising revenue, particularly local advertising. Ad revenue sunk as people were forced to stay home, businesses closed, and spending was cut.

What does this mean going forward? How are broadcasters working to keep audiences engaged and at the same time grow advertising commensurate with audience? What are the challenges, opportunities and strategies for engaging audiences and advertising in a post-COVID-19 world?

Panelists:

Moderator:

  • John Clark, executive director, PILOT, National Association of Broadcasters

Facebook, Credible News and COVID-19

Hear about the steps Facebook has taken to support the spread of quality, authoritative news from local sources and to fight the threat of misinformation. This session will focus on two specific topics.

$100 million commitment to journalism: In March, Facebook announced a $100 million investment in journalism in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Learn about the work that has been accomplished with those funds and what comes next as part of that commitment.

Fact-checking: Facebook uses both technology and human review to fight the spread of misinformation. Hear how Facebook partners with independent third-party fact checking organizations around the world to rate and review the accuracy of content on its platforms and what it’s doing to support the broader fact-checking ecosystem in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

Panelists:

Moderator:

  • John Clark, executive director, PILOT, National Association of Broadcasters

Predictions (and prescriptions) for the Post-pandemic Newsroom

Newsrooms have quickly and effectively adopted new practices that would have been unthinkable just two months ago, a testament to their flexibility, creativity and technical know-how. But should “back to normal” mean back to business as usual? What workarounds and lessons should we cement as new workflows and practices that continue past COVID-19? And what might the pandemic’s lasting impact be on story selection, program formats, data journalism, technology, the role of reporters and anchors in the community and even newsroom culture?

Panelists:

  • Nate Johnson, director of Weather Operations, NBC Owned Television Stations
  • Frank Mungeam, professor of practice, TV News Innovation, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University
  • Sally Ramirez, executive news director, KHOU-TV

Moderator:

  • Andrew Heyward, Knight-Cronkite News Lab, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, Arizona State University

Strategies and Case Studies in Advanced TV Ad Selling

Buyers are adapting their strategies to find and target consumers across the media they use tied to the marketing touchpoints that map best to different media. These cross-platform buying trends incorporate more data, technology and new buying practices in integrated, cross-platform ad campaign planning and activation. For broadcasters looking to benefit from this trend and grow ad revenue, workflow automation, programmatic selling, cross-platform attribution and data-driven audience selling practices are becoming critical in both audio and video media. The use of first-party data or data developed and owned by brands and publishers will become more valuable. We’re at the beginning of a new and fast transition to building identity graphs to support advanced advertising across digital platforms.

Panelists:

  • Brian Hunt, head, OTT/CTV Advertising Sales, Sinclair Broadcast Group
  • Shawn Makhijani, senior vice president, Business Development and Strategy, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations
  • Azita Manson, president, OpenZNet

Moderator:

  • Rick Ducey, managing director, BIA Advisory Services