After three years of welcoming creators to its biggest event, NAB launches year-round creator VIP program

2026 marked the third year of NAB Show‘s Creator Lab, its dedicated space and programming track for digital content creators.

And this was Creator Lab’s most attended year yet: 1,025 creators took part, a 138% jump from the Lab’s 2025 attendance.

Robin Raskin, founder of Virtual Events Group (which collaborated with NAB Show to develop the Creator Lab), says that jump is a sign that “overall, NAB Show’s positioning with storytelling works and is attracting the right audience.”

Storytelling is always a focus for the National Association of Broadcasters, but this year, organizers put a special focus on making Creator Lab and NAB Show as a whole a place where two distinct sectors of storytellers–creators and legacy entertainment entities–could meet and mingle.

Prior to the event, which ran April 18-22 in Las Vegas and attracted over 58,000 registered attendees total, Karen Chupka (the National Association of Broadcasters’ EVP of Global Connections and Events) told us that the “unique thing about NAB Show is whether you’re telling stories on TikTok, TV, or the big screen, the show is for you.”

Judging by Creator Lab’s attendance, it’s clear creators got the message. Folks who attended the Lab this year (sponsored by Adobe and BlackMagic Design) had access to three full days of programming, including sessions featuring experts like:

• longtime creators MatPat, Dylan Huey, AtomicMari, and Tayllor Lloyd
• Rene Ritchie, YouTube’s Head of Editorial & Creator Liaison
• Jesser/Bucketsquad’s Director of Strategy and Operations Ben Harris
• CrunchLabs’ Creative Director Pojo Riegert
• Toni Gray, Head of Production at Dhar Mann Studios
• Opus Clip’s Product Marketing Manager Sachin Kumar
• and Eric Iverson, Partner & Chief Technology Officer at United Talent Agency

Attendees also saw nearly a dozen exhibitors and could join intimate workshops in Adobe’s sponsored classroom.

Raskin says that particular space, new for this year’s show, was a “huge success, crowded all the time.” It allowed for more hands-on development sessions where creators could get real-time, more personalized advice for sharpening their craft, while the Lab’s main stage offered broader thought leadership and discussion, she adds.

And though the Creator Lab may have concluded, another new addition will keep creators tied into the NAB ecosystem year round.

A few weeks before the 2026 event, NAB Show unveiled its Content Creator VIP Program. The program’s tentpole perk is a free, two-year pass to NAB Show, but joining creators also get business benefits like:

• up to four other virtual networking/educational events per year
• media liability insurance
• rental car discounts
• UPS shipping discounts
• and (soon) discounts on hotels, movie tickets, and theme park visits

So far, around 60 creators have joined the program. NAB will benefit from it too–namely, it’ll meet with these VIP creators throughout the year and “listen to their concerns and try to meet them where they are,” Raskin says. Their input will help shape future Creator Lab programming.

As for what else lies in Creator Lab’s future, Raskin says the space will be even larger in 2027, and that creators’ footprint at broadcasting’s largest event of the year will “continue to grow.”

NAB Show is a Tubefilter partner.