NAB 2026 in the Rear View Mirror

As we head home in various directions across the Nevada desert, we always try to gather our thoughts from an intense NAB week. Our take: As live event revenue increasingly comes from streamed services, the important NAB 2026 security theme was not that DRM still matters, but that it alone is not enough. It is clear that premium streaming now requires a multi-faceted security approach that includes some combination of encryption, geo-fencing, watermarking, token management, client app integrity, and a solid incident response plan.

Revenue security was, in many ways, front and center of the NAB 2026 conversation. While cost management may have initiated the discussions, a more proactive stance of maintaining margins in a challenging streaming environment was really at the heart of the matter. Our discussions at NAB reinforced the perspective that addressing the threat profile for streaming service revenue is not completely dominated by considerations of technology spend, but more of a drive towards operational clarity in an extremely dynamic landscape.

Provenance

There is no doubt that the topic of content provenance, and specifically a buzz around the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), is picking up momentum. Broadcasters and platform operators’ concerns around communicating content authenticity and provenance are accelerating, largely driven by the current tsunami of AI-generated media. These stakeholders are beginning to actively explore solutions like C2PA to ensure trust and integrity of their content.  We know that our initial C2PA solutions, including the Video Signature service and the Provenance Vault, are well positioned to address the core of these concerns for streaming video services.

From the front lines of a trade show, it’s easy to fall into the trap of seeing this topic as one of last year’s headlines. But as an initiative that's only 4 years in the making,  its impact has been remarkably rapid by standards-body timelines. At the same time, the continuing headlines around the use and abuse of AI are raising the stakes. This creates a very unique challenge: integrating C2PA in a way that can appropriately assert integrity and ownership within an increasingly AI-driven media landscape. And as a technology solution provider, we can not do it on our own. We need media rights holders and news agencies to see the benefits of trust and brand protection and to start asking companies in the media supply chain to implement this technology in their tech stack. We are optimistic to see the first steps in this direction and we are very excited to be part of the conversation.

Beyond DRM

This year’s show re-emphasized a clear shift in how customers view content protection. Security is directly tied to business and monetization decisions, but DRM itself is increasingly seen as important but insufficient. The substance of many conversations was that DRM alone doesn’t fully address service operators' concerns, and many are still trying to determine what level and type of security actually make sense for their business. The first generations of our response to the gaps exposed by DRM alone are in the new PEM offering. [link and a little elaboration].

On top of the debate about effective security technologies, there’s noticeable friction around the effort required to properly implement and maintain a complete workflow, especially when it incorporates a range of different solutions and a number of distinct vendors. The emphasis at EZDRM has always been around standards adherence - reducing ties to proprietary technologies - and around ease of integration. As the multi-faceted security requirements of our marketplace come more into focus, we believe that this can put us in a good position.

Security as a Partnership

More introspectively perhaps, what a great feeling it is to get our multinational team together in one place and all rowing in the same direction. Our own team brings together perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic, and Northern and Southern hemispheres. This staff diversity helps us keep in touch with what’s important across a fast moving landscape.

The emphasis on a shared approach to solutions is highlighted by our partnership initiatives as sketched in our Revenue Security Prism blog series. For example, a booth-based demonstration of security, including DRM and C2PA,  on MoQ streamed media and entertainment content emphasized the critical value of both standards and partnerships. The demonstration was put together in a fairly short period of time, because everyone involved saw the value and decided to make it a priority. This would not have been possible without leaning on existing standards and pre-established relationships.

In Summary

Amongst the many conversations at NAB, a visitor commented that we “meet our customers where they are at” when it comes to securing content and revenue.  And that is something we feel proud to repeat - that, regardless of standard or protocol, we work with customers and partners to secure that stream in the context of the business that it represents and in conjunction with our partners. At the same time as we advocate technical diversity, we seek to avoid the trap that a service stance toward security becomes fragmented across DRM, geo-management, watermarking, CDN, app protection, takedown services, etc. with no clear owner. We believe this is the time to rise to that challenge.