Agentic AI in Media: Control is the Story

Co-written with Andy Beach (Engines of Change), this piece combines a floor read of NAB Show 2026 with a word-frequency and log-odds analysis of 148 exhibitor announcements to argue that control, not AI, was the dominant theme of the show. It shows agentic AI product launches increasingly built around orchestration and governance, links this to a wave of orchestration-focused M&A (Foundry-Griptape, Kaltura-PathFactory, OpenAI-Ona), and frames IBC 2026 as the test of whether agentic AI becomes a true operating layer.