From the cloud to 5G: NAB 2019 in review

The annual NAB gathering in Las Vegas was timely, given that it was bookended by Apple’s recent confirmation of its streaming plans and then Disney’s SVOD service, which was announced on the last day of NAB at a separate event.

Aptly, given that we are in a golden age of content with consumers spoilt for SVOD services and many more set to launch over coming months, the theme of NAB 2019 was storytelling with all providers seeking to differentiate through original content and a seamless viewer experience in an effort to create the next biggest player in the market.

It is against this backdrop that some of the busiest stands at NAB were the IT and tech giants, who are leading the charge in cloud and virtualised functions that are the foundation of new venture. These included AWS, IBM, Google, and Microsoft. Clearly, AWS is the leader, but the one to watch is…