Innovation should be tested with real content, in front of real audiences. This is one of the principles guiding Belgium’s Flemish public broadcaster

*This content is included in the September issue of TM BROADCAST. You can access the full magazine here.

Throughout this year, TM BROADCAST has been exploring the technology roadmaps of broadcasters across Europe and beyond, from the BBC and RTVE to CBC/Radio-Canada. As part of this wider editorial initiative, we now turn our attention to VRT, a mid-sized public broadcaster whose approach to innovation offers a particularly interesting perspective.

Innovation should be tested with real content, in front of real audiences. This is one of the principles guiding Belgium’s Flemish public broadcaster. And in today’s context, shaped by accelerating technological change and the need for scalability, collaboration has become fundamental to innovation. For VRT, this means working with start-ups, universities and industry partners rather than innovating in isolation.

This approach extends across AI, virtual production and data management — particularly metadata — and even into video games. “Game productions seem unconventional for a public broadcaster, but if we want to reach everyone, we also need to be present on platforms where kids spend their time. A logical choice, in the end,” VRT Innovation Manager Dieter Boen explains in this issue of TM BROADCAST.

The accelerating pace of technological change makes it increasingly important for broadcasters — including public service media — to keep their innovation strategies up to date. The challenge is no longer simply to adopt individual technologies, but to understand how content, platforms and forms of interaction are converging. As conversational interfaces continue to evolve, broadcasters will also need to rethink how audiences discover, consume and interact with their content.