Exploring Trends
The IBC2026 core pillars - Shifting Business Models, Transformative Tech and People & Purpose, form a thread that runs through the entire event, from the innovations on the showfloor, to the features and content programmes taking place across the RAI.
At IBC2026, a line-up of 600+ speakers across an expanded number of theatre halls, will take to the stage to champion new technologies, future business models, and creative innovations that broaden the horizons of media and entertainment.
Shifting Business Models
• A new playbook for sports: scale, AI and rights
• Global or local: what partnerships are driving new opportunities?
• Is content still always king – what do audiences want, from where and how?
• Media consolidation and evolution
• The creator economy – who will be the winners and losers?
• The future of TV distribution
• Reinventing the relationship between content and advertising
Transformative Tech
• Adopting and adapting the new tools of the trade- where can AI make a real difference?
• Applying AI: predictive, generative, agentic?
• Emerging technologies reshaping the business of broadcast
• Security, authenticity and provenance: How can we trust the content we have now and in the future?
• Live streaming and real time experiences
People & Purpose
• The evolution of AI and how it will impact creativity
• M&A: Which partnerships will make champions?
• Ethical AI & regulation
From live demos and hands-on experiences to inspiring talks and unique networking opportunities, IBC2026 Future Tech is the fastest-growing area of the show, reflecting what makes IBC unique: innovation not just imagined, but built, tested, and applied in a real-world context.
IABM, SMPTE, SCTE, IET, RTS and IEEE BTS are the six leading international bodies behind IBC. At this year's show, they will once again deliver a multitude of sessions covering a wide variety of topics from the latest business industry strategies to defining future networks.
The IBC Partner Programme will include a multitude of free-to-attend sessions from the IBC owners and partners, covering a wide variety of topics from the latest industry standards and strategies for business transformation, to defining future networks and building new sustainable broadcast infrastructures.
The ever-popular IBC Showcase Theatre will return in Hall 8, to highlight the latest innovations and solutions in media and entertainment. This 240+ attendee, purpose-built stage, will offer free-to-attend sessions that covered strategic content from rapid growth market sectors.
A free-to-attend programme of panel discussions and product demonstrations devised to help IBC visitors explore different aspects of the delivery and consumption of content, covering everything from Advertising Tech, Cloud Services and Cyber Security to Multi-Platform Delivery, OTT equipment and Streaming.
IBC2026 will once again offer a comprehensive line-up of innovative show features, designed to reflect the current landscape of media and entertainment and shape the future of technology through collaboration and education.
From this year's prestigious IBC Innovation Awards and our returning IBC Future Tech, the ultimate destination for groundbreaking advancement, to our Accelerator Media Innovation Programme, enabling fast-track, collaborative experiments to solve some of the complex challenges of transformative new technologies, there is so much to do at this year's IBC.