If you’ve ever been to NAB, you know the show floor has a specific energy. It’s where ideas collide, partnerships take shape, and every conversation is a window into what’s next. This year in Las Vegas, that feeling was stronger than ever. And if I had to sum up the overarching theme of NAB 2025 in one word, it would be this: momentum.

AI was a promising layer on our workflows only a few years ago. Now, it has become the engine powering just about everything. I remember walking the halls of NAB in 2020 and seeing the early signs: speech—to—text features and some basic facial recognition. These are helpful features, but they are still in the experimental phase.

Fast-forward to today, and it’s an entirely different world. AI is no longer just a nice-to-have feature—it’s foundational. It’s integrated into nearly every platform, from media asset management (MAM) systems to orchestration tools to storage solutions. And what’s more important: it’s solving real problems.

At the Scale Logic booth, that evolution was on full display. We had meaningful conversations with hundreds of professionals, from post-production houses and broadcasters to sports networks and content creators. Their questions weren’t about whether AI could help, but how fast it could be deployed and how deeply it could integrate with their existing workflows.

That shift says a lot.

From Metadata to Meaning

Let’s talk MAMs for a moment. Five years ago, managing media meant tagging it. Manually. Painfully. You’d log footage, mark in and out points, and spend hours creating metadata to make it retrievable later. Today? That work is automated—accurately, instantly, and at scale.

Solutions from vendors like CatDV, Iconik, MirMir, and eMAM are taking this to the next level. eMAM, for instance, was showing off its real-time transcription features alongside object and scene recognition. A clip can now be analyzed when it’s ingested, with the system generating searchable tags without a human ever touching it.

CatDV had an inspiring demo showing its integration with the CaraOne platform. For those unfamiliar, CaraOne is the world’s only AI-powered content search platform that makes media instantly discoverable without relying on traditional metadata. Obvious Future developed it, and we at Scale Logic are incredibly proud to be its exclusive North American reseller.

That pride was amplified when CaraOne was officially named NAB Product of the Year—a huge honor that validates what we’ve been hearing from customers all along: this technology changes the game.

Watching CaraOne in action on the show floor was a highlight for me. It’s doing what we hoped AI could do: reducing the time it takes to edit and instantly surfacing relevant footage, using natural language search, visual pattern recognition, and context-based AI models. Editors who typically spend 30–40% of their day searching for clips lit up when they saw how fast and easy it was to find exactly what they needed.

CaraOne stood out for its user experience. Its intuitive interface and highly accurate discovery make it feel less like a tool and more like a teammate.

The Rise of Orchestration

The other trend that stood out was orchestration—connecting tools, platforms, and people across increasingly hybrid workflows. Having great individual tools is no longer enough; the real value comes when those tools work in harmony.

Organizations now operate across on-prem, cloud, and edge environments—sometimes all at once. Production teams are spread across cities (and continents), each using different tools that need to communicate with one another. That’s where orchestration comes in.

This year’s NAB made it clear: the future is about seamless, end-to-end workflow automation. It’s not just about ingesting, storing, or editing—it’s about orchestrating every step so the entire production pipeline flows without friction. Whether it’s an AI that pre-tags footage, an MAM that connects to editing timelines in real time, or automated publishing across multiple platforms, it’s all about agility and efficiency.

At Scale Logic, we’ve always believed in that vision. CaraOne and our storage systems aren’t just standalone solutions—they’re part of a broader ecosystem. AI and orchestration are the glue that connects every piece of that ecosystem, from content ingest to archive and distribution.

A Shift Toward Real-World Usability

What impressed me most this year wasn’t just the innovation but how practical it’s become. The companies that drew the biggest crowds weren’t necessarily the flashiest. They simplified complex workflows and were obsessed with user experience, speed, and value.

We’re seeing tools designed for the technical elite and everyone across the creative and production chain. Editors, producers, and asset managers benefit when the tech fades into the background and works.

And let me tell you, did you see the reactions when we demoed CaraOne’s intelligent search? That never gets old. Editors who typically spend 30–40% of their day searching for clips were blown away when they found what they needed in seconds by typing a few natural-language keywords.

The Data Behind the Buzz

To give some context to this transformation, let’s look at the numbers:

• According to a 2025 IDC report, 78% of media companies are now actively integrating AI into at least one stage of their production workflow.
• 62% of post-production teams report that AI-assisted editing and metadata tagging have reduced project turnaround times by over 30%.
• Hybrid environments represent the dominant infrastructure model, with 65% of M&E companies operating across cloud and on-prem systems.

These aren’t just buzzwords anymore. The adoption curve is accelerating, and the ROI is measurable.

 Looking Ahead

So, what does all of this mean for the future of production? It means we’re entering an era where the barrier to entry is lower, but the ceiling for innovation is higher. Where small teams can work faster and smarter than ever. Where content isn’t just stored—it’s activated. Discovered. Used.

As we head into the back half of 2025 and start thinking about what’s next, I know that AI will continue to evolve, workflows will continue to expand, and Scale Logic will continue to build the tools that help teams stay ahead of whatever comes next.

But more than that, we’ll keep showing up, listening, partnering, and helping customers navigate the chaos and find clarity. That’s what NAB reminded me of this year: this industry runs on connection. Between people, tools, and ideas. And it’s our job to make those connections as strong and straightforward as possible.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth, shared a coffee, asked a tricky question, or offered a new idea. We’re grateful for your time and energy, and more excited than ever for what’s next.

See you in 2026!

—Bob