Planning for the 2022 NAB Show is ramping up, and Radio World is asking exhibitors about their plans and expectations. Paul Cramer is the managing director of broadcast solutions for Veritone.
Radio World: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend(s) that radio professionals should be watching for at the 2022 NAB Show?
Paul Cramer: Radio professionals should pay attention to technologies that help them to localize, personalize, and regionalize their audio — at scale, such as using pre-approved, broadcast-quality synthetic voice to localize spot creative, liners, and production. Advances in AI-driven text-to-speech technology are exploding and empowering tons of new use cases, from creative creation to translating audio and video content to reach new audiences.
Secondly, the pandemic of the last two years accelerated the shift of advertising to performance-based and data-driven mediums. Technology that helps radio and audio broadcasters demonstrate ROI and measure attribution is becoming table stakes and will continue to be a critical capability that advertising professionals will need to increase their share of ad spend while minimizing advertiser churn.
RW: What will be your most important product news or exhibit theme?
Cramer: Our theme is “Activate Your Media with AI.” This entails everything from AI-enriched digital asset management, to AI-powered ad intelligence and attribution for radio operators. Our solutions aim to streamline the process of demonstrating metrics of success in mediums like radio and television, that have been traditionally effective, but difficult to measure. We’ll be showcasing new ways to streamline earned media measurement toward campaign goals by using AI to detect and count in-content sponsorships and ad integrations toward campaign delivery goals, and attribute lift in an advertiser’s website engagement back to the broadcast campaign. Additionally, we’ve recently launched new technology for digital audio and video publishers who need brand safety and brand suitability intelligence when programmatically serving ads into their content.
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RW: If you are introducing a new product or feature, how is it different from what’s available on the market?
Cramer: Our solutions are built upon our proprietary aiWARE operating system, which includes an ecosystem of hundreds of AI models in dozens of cognitive categories, from transcription, translation, topic and entity identification, and brand safety, to computer visioning tools like logo detection, on-screen character recognition, and more. This sets us apart from many point-solutions which are akin to “one-trick ponies” in the space. It allows us to be a one-stop shop for all things AI and helps us create custom workflows for a client’s use case. For instance, we can easily ingest a podcast, transcribe it, and then create a translated version of it using broadcast-quality synthetic voice so the publisher can reach new audiences.
RW: How has the lack of physical trade shows for the past three years affected your company’s clients or your own business?
Cramer: Certainly, there’s never a replacement for in-person human reaction. While we’ve all become very efficient with web meetings, there is a benefit of gathering together, at a set time and set place, to collaborate on learning and innovation within the industry. There’s a benefit to the synchronous engagement that happens at a conference, whether it be sharing ideas, networking, or the opportunity to build relationships with customers and colleagues. While our team has done a fantastic job of engaging remotely with current and prospective clients over the last few years, we’re looking forward to this year’s show to seeing everyone in person.
RW: Anything else we should know?
Cramer: We will be exhibiting all four days of NAB at West Hall booth W4716, and we’re looking forward to making new contacts or reconnecting after two years away!
Veritone booth: W4716
