IBC 2026 top 10: finding the value pockets in diversified, AI-driven media tech

The 2026 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) was again an action-packed long weekend. Between the conference rooms and the halls (counting both steps and AI robodogs), it was great to spend time with industry friends and former colleagues, and this year we wrote our takeaways together with Kearney.

It's no surprise that AI dominated the IBC agenda. But there is still too much hype around use cases and not enough on either the business value impact or how to operationalise AI through cross-functional processes, people, and enabling technology.

It also struck us that many parts of the broadcast technology industry remain too fragmented for the market dynamics. Mergers, including SES and Intelsat in distribution and EMG and Gravity Media in production, show that consolidation is already reshaping parts of the media sector. Broadcasting has seen similar activity through MFE and ProSiebenSat.1 and Sky and ITV, although it remains unclear whether the pace of consolidation will increase. At the same time, the growing role of the largest global technology companies as platform operators could leave mid-sized media-tech companies increasingly exposed, particularly as they face buyers with greater negotiating power. With the need for more differentiated offerings and robust EBITDA and free cash flow programmes, consolidations and roll-ups are increasingly likely, with private equity set to play a role.

With that context, here are our takeaways and where we see the value, and where we don't. In our opinion, the companies that understand and play to these dynamics are set to take the lead.

1. “What's your YouTube strategy?”

The question on everyone's lips. YouTube now pulls 2.7 billion monthly users and more than a billion daily viewing hours on living room devices: “the world's cultural stage”, in the words of YouTube's Marc Heufelder on the IBC stage. New pay TV-like features such as Multiview and Gemini-powered conversational AI show where the real competition for attention now sits.

2. Shortform and vertical are becoming king, with microdrama leading the charge

Many thanks to Maria Rua Aguete from Omdia for this one: consumers no longer organise their lives around formats but around moments, and microdramas matter “not because they are short, but because they are a window into how consumer behavior is evolving.” Omdia forecasts the global microdrama market will hit $14 billion in revenue by 2026. This is a genre we like and believe in. Look out for the value potential in companies that are innovating in microdrama commercialisation, for example advertising and smart free-to-pay journey management.

3. Mood matters and platforms need to curate for that

Sixty-nine percent of Gen Z decide what they watch based on their social feed, against 6 percent of baby boomers. Customer mood determines choice of content, and the same content can have a different viewer perception on two different platforms, so once the viewer arrives the platform needs to quickly understand and curate to their mood. Everyone TV (Freely, Freeview, Freesat) in the UK called this out, providing an 80,000-hour content library with a focus on a sales-free environment and MAU and CSAT metrics.

4. Storytelling has always driven value, and AI is now doing it more directly

Netflix's Drive to Survive helped Formula 1's US broadcast rights climb from near zero to $150 million in seven years, and Wrexham AFC's valuation rose from under $3 million to near $500 million on the same effect. Now AI creates that value more directly: Liberty Global's Formula E has an AI-powered Race Centre and strategy agent on Google Cloud converting 1.5 million data points per race into a simple live narrative that speaks to non-expert viewers, expanding reach. The Premier League's AI Companion with Microsoft drove a 20 percent engagement lift across 60 million fans. Applying science to enhance storytelling and de-risk new content is a definite, but for now we do see an overload of undifferentiated companies playing in this space.

5. Creators come of age

This can be co-streaming the official broadcast, raw “keyhole rights” from a single parallel camera angle, or athlete-distributed performances. Live sports is taking learnings from gaming and is now mainstream: 78 percent of FIFA World Cup YouTube views were from creator videos, and Disney+ recently signed a deal with Global-owned The Overlap fronted by Gary Neville. Companies that enable technology and commercialisation, like Creator Sports Network, are riding this wave.

6. Agentic AI has moved from concept to live production

The BBC's Collective Newsroom, built with nxtedition, a finalist for this year's IBC Innovation Award and a clear value case, now runs live production across nine languages, with its agents handling transcription, translation and publishing end to end.

7. Sports growth can be fuelled by AI-personalised delivery

Guy Laurent Epstein, focused on driving UEFA's growth through appeal to both audiences and broadcasters, put it plainly: “Could we deliver one-to-one AI-assisted IP delivery of content, rather than just the one-to-many satellite delivery?” Growth, for UEFA, now means better reach, not just bigger reach. The application of AI to personalised digital pitch-side ad overlays is one value case.

8. Trust and content provenance are becoming a genuine business risk, not a compliance afterthought

LALIGA now has a dedicated audiovisual anti-fraud manager, whose session tackled how to keep content secure, verified and traceable as generative content proliferates. At the same time, UK sports streaming piracy has doubled in three years, and with the value of premium rights trending up, companies with differentiated technology in this space will do well.

9. AI actors are at the inflection point

The AI actress Tilly Norwood fielded her first live interview at IBC2026, making compelling arguments for a future of AI production with AI screen talent, including that the carbon and water footprint is 99 percent lower than traditional production. Tilly still draws a 20 percent negative reaction rate, and to her credit her creator Eline van der Velden of Particle6 asks the same question as her critics: “How are we going to use this ethically?” There is a future value case, but in the near term we see this as niche rather than mainstream.

10. Contrary to popular belief, satellite is alive and kicking as transmission infrastructure

SES has committed to seven new GEO satellites for North America by 2029, taking manufacturing in-house, and is already signing broadcast contracts stretching as far out as 2040. Multi-transmission contribution and delivery models will become the norm, spanning satellite, fibre, Wi-Fi and mobile network slices.

A final point: the talent pipeline

Media is an inherently people-driven sector. But ScreenSkills has delivered a shocking stat: more than 50 percent of the UK broadcast industry's workforce is currently out of work, driven by reducing production volume budgets and the impact of AI. IAMT's Stuart Ray called it a strange dichotomy: massive content demand, but budgets and crews being cut at the same time. Initiatives such as the Royal Television Society's mini-MBA can be game-changing.

While AI adoption is only heading in one direction, filling the talent pipeline to seed the next generation of leaders is a must.