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

As every year, the audiovisual sector already has its next destination booked: Amsterdam. The IBC trade show dedicated to the industry is counting down to opening the doors of the RAI in the Dutch city. From 11 to 14 September 2026, the venue will bring together the global media, entertainment and technology communities from more than 170 countries.

Last year, IBC 2025 wrapped up with 43,858 visitors from 170 countries and more than 1,300 exhibitors, with 600+ speakers. For this edition, the event anticipates the attendance of over 45,000 media and tech professionals — plus more than 1,200 exhibitors across an exhibition floor set to exceed 45,000 sqm.

Spanning across 14 halls, the show will spotlight advances in areas such as AI, cloud-native workflows, content provenance, cyber security, immersive experiences, private 5G, sustainability and next-generation production tools. Each is organized by specific product sector, as follows:

• Halls 1, 2 and 3: Delivery – Distribution, Satellite, Displays & Screens, Post Production.
• Hall 5: Content Everywhere – Monetisation & Ad Tech, Data Infrastructure & Cloud Services, OTT & Streaming, Sports Streaming Technology, Esports & Gaming, Cyber Security, Telecommunications.
• Halls 6 and 7: Delivery – Post Production, Virtual Production.
• Hall 8: Multi Technologies – Production, Management, Audio, Visual, Transmission, Esports/Gaming, Film & Cinema.
• Halls 9 and 10: Production – Production, Video Services.
• Halls 11, 12 and 13: Multi Technologies – Production, Management, Audio, Visual, Transmission, Esports/Gaming, Film & Cinema.
• Hall 14: Future Tech – Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Esports/Gaming, Prosumer Tech, Creator Economy, Virtual Production.
• Outdoor Exhibitors – Dedicated outdoor exhibition space.

For this edition, the free-to-attend IBC Showcase Theatre returns to Hall 3, where it will host talks and panels on the latest innovations shaping the media and entertainment industry.

Also, Content Everywhere will be concentrated exclusively in Hall 5 this year. The dedicated hub for OTT, streaming and monetisation technologies will bring together close to 200 exhibitors and two dedicated stages of free-to-attend sessions.

Finally, for those looking to unwind or network away from the show floor, the IBC Beach — a waterside complex next to the RAI including a restaurant, the IBC Pub and the Jetty Bar — will remain open throughout the show.

Future Tech and other novelties

The Future Tech (Hall 14) returns after its debut in 2025. This year, the show is expanding its new strategic partnership with EIT Culture & Creativity to include Future Tech Ignite, which will host talks, panels, showcases and pitch sessions covering the major forces changing the industry.

The hall will be 30% larger and will feature new additions, such as a Start-Up Zone featuring 30–40 emerging companies and a wider skills and development programme including the IBC Talent Programme, with new research from IBC and Women in Streaming Media, Hackfest and creator initiatives.

Now in its third year, the IBC Talent Programme will anchor much of the skills agenda, and Future Tech Ignite is expected to connect more than 50 start-ups and emerging technology companies with the wider IBC community over its four-day run. The final day of the show will be dedicated to students, closing with a session in which they share their views on the industry’s most pressing issues. Hall 14 will also house a dedicated Podcast Studio, reinforcing Future Tech’s push toward more interactive, creator-focused formats.

Additionally, it will once again be home to the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme, where broadcasters, streamers, technology providers and research partners collaborate on fast-track innovation projects addressing pressing, practical industry challenges.

Other novelties introduced to IBC2026 include IBC Exchange, a new layer of structured, peer-led conversations enabling deeper, more focused knowledge sharing – hosted in the Braindate Lounge in Future Tech; and IBC Connect, a curated meetings programme designed to connect exhibitors with senior decision-makers and drive tangible commercial outcomes.

IBC2026 Conference

The show’s programme will feature demonstrations, presentations, panels and networking events exploring the forces reshaping media and entertainment. From 11–13 September, the three-day IBC2026 Conference is built around IBC’s core themes of Shifting Business Models, Transformative Tech and People & Purpose, addressing how media companies can adapt, compete and create new opportunities.

The different sessions will bring together professionals from broadcasting, streaming, sport, news, social media, advertising and technology, with focus on AI in practice, audience behaviour, sports transformation, trust and provenance and new commercial models.

The Conference will also include the IBC Technical Papers Programme, showcasing peer-reviewed research with its scope expanded this year to include technical policy. To try to answer the question ‘what direction should our technology take for our business?’ sessions will cover AI Production, Coding, Trust & Provenance, XR & Multiview, The Future of TV Distribution, Dynamic Media Facility developments, AI Indexing, and more.

Additionally, the IBC Owner & Partner Programme, at IBC Owner Pavilion, will deliver free-to-attend sessions from the show owners and partners, covering a vast range of topics from the latest industry standards and strategies for business transformation, to defining future networks and building new sustainable broadcast infrastructures.

IBC2026 Innovation Awards

To round off four days of innovation, technology and discussions, the Innovation Awards will announce the winners of this edition. The awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 13 September at 6:00 p.m. on the main stage of the IBC Conference at the RAI Amsterdam. 

This year’s shortlist was drawn from more than 120 projects submitted for consideration across the four categories. Alongside the category winners, the same ceremony will present the IBC2026 International Honour for Excellence — the show’s most prestigious award — to Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), recognising its decades of innovation in live sports production and its wider impact on the global broadcast industry.

The winners for Best Technical Paper will also be awarded at the event. These are: Emma Maier, Jodie Pearton, Anna Stewart, Arina Mnatsakanyan and Jonathan Freeman, of i2 media research, for their work ‘Measuring and reducing interaction barriers in internet-delivered TV systems through age-informed human factors design’

Covering four categories – Content Creation, Content Distribution, Content Everywhere and Social Impact – the awards celebrate projects that show how collaboration between media organisations and technology partners is delivering innovation in production, distribution, audience experiences and societal impact. The finalists are:

• Content Creation: “How Collective Newsroom powers BBC India”, working with the BBC and nxtedition, supported by Adobe, Blackmagic Design, Calrec, Ideal Systems and Ross Video; “Media eXchange Layer (MXL)”, by the European Broadcasting Union in collaboration with the North American Broadcasters Association, hosted by the Linux Foundation; and “Formula E Strategy Agent” , developed with Google Cloud and with Aurora Media Worldwide’s technical support.
• Content Distribution: “Capacity that follows the live news story”, from Reuters, powered by TVU Networks’ MediaMesh and including partner integrations: InSync, Kinetiq, Sony, Elecard and TAG Video Systems; “Transforming broadcast distribution in Malaysia”, for Radio Televisyen Malaysia, developed with Ideal Systems, and Blue Lucy Media, Emotion Systems, and Fortinet as technical supporters; “Server-guided ad insertion at scale”, RTBF Belgium’s migration to standards-based SGAI, launched for the FIFA World Cup with Bitmovin’s Player, AIP’s AdBlendr, HLS interstitials and SVTA2053, with technical support from Dotscreen, Red Bee Media and Régie Média Belge.
• Content Everywhere: “Implementation of DTV+ in Brazil”,  Globo in collaboration across government, broadcasters and industry, “The connected fan experience”, the Premier League Companion powered by Copilot, with Microsoft, and  Beyond Sport as technical partner; and “Tilly Norwood (and the Tillyverse)”, created by Particle 6.
• Social Impact: “AI for Good”, established by the International Telecommunication Union; “IOC Cyber Abuse Protection Service (CAPS)”, for the Olympic Games, with Signify AI as technical supporter; and “Closing the sign language gap”, G&L Systemhaus brought together Signapse, Norsk/id3as and CDN provider Akamai.