IBC2026: What to look out for on Day 2

Across the show’s 14 halls, these international thought leaders will demonstrate how their knowledge, skills, and technology can address the M&S industry’s most pressing challenges and opportunities today. 

To navigate the deluge of strategic media insights, IBC365 has broken down some highlights for the day amongst the panel talks, demos, and masterclasses at Amsterdam’s RAI.

IBC Conference   

At 10:00, the session “Tech Leader Perspectives – Hhow AI is reshaping the business of media?” will take place in Conference Room 1 (CR1). Featuring Sotiris Salamouris, Chief Technical Officer (CTO), OBS, and Damian Cronan, Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) at ABC, this talk will dive into how these leading technologists are leveraging machine learning, generative and agentic AI, and data-driven tools to rethink production, distribution, unlock new revenue models, and stay competitive in an industry evolving at unprecedented speed. 

Following this, Ant Boys, ACE – the ACE Eddie–winning, BAFTA-nominated comedy editor – joins journalist Carolyn Giardina in a lively session at 11:00 in CR1 called “Presented by American Cinema Editors Cutting Conversation: Editor Ant Boys, ACE and Journalist Carolyn Giardina”. The panel will explore his television credits, which include The Great, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Veep, Bait, and The Thick of It. His film work spans The Hustle, In the Loop, and, most recently, The Invite. The discussion will explore his approach to cutting sophisticated comedy, his views on advancing technology, and how he sees the future of the cutting room. 

At 12:15, Tim Haubeil, Channel Director, Sidemen Entertainment, and Will Pithers, Strategic Partner Manager, Sport, Meta will take part in the panel “The Winners and Losers in the Creator Economy: Who will be the New Media Elite?”, alongside: Helen O'Donnell, Interim Vice President (VP), Content and Creators, BBC Studios Digital Brands; Jorrit Eringa, Head, Content Partnerships, the Benelux and Nordics, Snap Inc; Sami Qasem, Director, Creator and Content Partnerships, Tubi; and Evan Shapiro, Media Cartographer, ESHAP. This all-star panel will debate the future of media and which opportunities and challenges are growing as the space matures.  

Next, “Panel: Brands as Media: Reinventing the relationship between content and advertising” will take over CR1 at 15:45 with insights from: Ksenija Koženkova, Head, non-standard Media Partnerships, Innovation, Vinted; Gau Narayanan, Managing Director (MD) Europe, Virtue EU; and Adam Kaczmarski, Creative Producer, Electric Robin, Banijay UK. From creator partnerships and branded entertainment to owned channels and community-driven campaigns, this session will look at how brands are reshaping how they connect with consumers. It will also examine what it takes to succeed in this new landscape. 

IBC Technical Papers  

Meanwhile, in the Technical Papers Room, the “AI Production and Software Tools” session at 10:00 will kickstart the discussion on the new frontier of virtual production and visual effects. Led by experts from the BBC, WPP Production, and SWR/ARD, this session will cover developments in improving different aspects of programme production. The presented papers include: the BBC’s work on a low-cost virtual camera system for in-camera visual effects; work at HFF and IIS, Germany, on exploring the use of AI-assisted tools to support end-to-end visual effects production workflows that meet broadcast quality standards under real-world constraints; and WPP Production on a way to address the inability of current AI models to reason about the structural intent behind an edit sequence. There are also three strong supporting papers. 

“XR & Multiview Developments” is next, at 11:15, with talks from: António Piteira, VP, Engineering, wTVision; Rob Koenen, CBO, Tiledmedia; and Simon Gunkel, Senior R&D Scientist, TNO. The experts will uncover developments in augmented reality and multiview, with an emphasis on: video-only camera tracking using venue awareness for graphics overlays; a three-layer reference model spanning the XR experience layer, the 6G network layer, and a distributed AI intelligence layer; and a single-player multiview solution to give the most efficient bit-rate behaviour, the best buffer behaviour, and the most freedom for devising an attractive user experience.  

Rounding off the selection is “Streaming Technology 1” at 14:30 in Conference Room 2 (CR2). The first of two sessions will progress the streaming technology conversation and look at the future of TV distribution. Presentations are: an update paper from BT Research, UK, on its prototype m-ABR system called Multicast-Assisted Unicast Delivery (MAUD) designed to allow multicast when a single operator is not in control of the whole delivery chain; from ITV, UK, on using an experimental holdout technique to better assess the impact on viewer experience of updates to a major TV streaming platform; and from AWS on edge computing with generative AI for VoD, for improving personalised content discovery. 

Hall 14 Stage   

This year, Hall 14 will be home to the Future Tech Stage and Ignite Stage. Both free-to-attend platforms will feature leading real-world solutions for content production, streaming, monetisation, and broadcasting.   

To get things started, Simon Crownshaw, Worldwide Media, Entertainment Strategy Director, Microsoft, will take to the Future Tech Stage with Moore Macauley, Chief Architect, MediaKind, and Will Brass, Chief Commercial Officer, Premier League, for the “Beyond the Live Event: AI-Powered Fan Engagement for Sports” session. Taking place at 12:45, this session will explore how AI is helping sports organisations, broadcasters, and technology partners extend the value of live sport before, during, and after the event. Drawing on practical examples from live production and fan engagement, the conversation will examine how data, automation, and AI agents can support faster content workflows, more relevant audience experiences, and new commercial opportunities – while keeping reliability, trust, and human oversight at the centre. 

Next, the “From Open Models to Owned Intelligence: Building Sovereign AI for Media” welcomed Sepi Motamedi, Global Head, Sports and Live Media Marketing, NVIDIA, as well as: Logan Lawler, Dell Pro Precision AI Strategy, Dell Technologies; Rick Champagne, Director, Global Media and Entertainment Industry Strategy and Marketing, Nvidia; and Simon Haywood, M&E CTO at Dell Technologies. In this 13:30 session, the panelists will gather on the Future Tech Stage to explore what this shift means for the future of media AI. Speakers will examine where local AI can improve privacy, responsiveness, customisation, and governance; when workloads need to scale beyond the workstation; and what organisations must consider before turning open models into production-ready capabilities. 

To top it all off, Sean Wallitsch, Senior Visual Compute Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services, will chat to Adam Jones, Director, Production Technology and Innovation, Innovative Dreams, about real-time hybrid filmmaking. The session, “Real-Time Hybrid Filmmaking: How Innovative Dreams Is Rewriting the Rules of Production”, will look at what real-time hybrid filmmaking actually looks like on set, with examples from the hit series House of David and the theatrical release of Young Washington. 

Content Everywhere  

Turning to the Content Everywhere stage, visitors can access a wealth of revelations on the future of content.  

One key session will be “The Cloud Question Every Broadcaster Is Asking: BBC Found the Answer” at 11:15, in which Andy Corp, Head, Product, BBC Technology, and Ian Munford, Principal Media, Entertainment Business Development Leader, AWS, will share the value analysis behind the BBC’s assessment of production in the cloud, covering the business drivers, evaluation methodology, results, and lessons learned across the production lifecycle.

Next, the “DRM and the Modern Content Security Stack: A Multi-Layer Approach to Premium Video” will explore how DRM and other revenue security technologies can be effectively combined to provide the best protected video delivery service for live and on-demand content. Led by Anna-Maria Chalkia, Research Analyst, Caretta Research, the panel will bring together vendors who offer complementary technologies, such as geofencing, CDN tokenisation, and watermarking.

Finally, the “Where Sports Rights Go Next: Distribution, Discovery and Revenue” session at 17:00 will host: Giovanni Aquilanti, Sales and Sponsorship, Sportel; Cyprien Castanedo; Head, Media Platform and Innovation at Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP); Fernando García Calvo, CRO, TVUP Streaming Media and CEO of The Channel Store at TVUP Streaming Media; and James Varndell, VP Product, Bitmovin. This session explores how sports organisations are structuring distribution strategies across an increasingly fragmented market while protecting the value of premium live content.

Showcase Theatre 

In the free-to-attend Showcase Theatre in Hall 8, four days of sessions will unravel the industry’s biggest challenges, successful business models and real-world solutions. Industry trailblazers set to land at the IBC2025 Showcase Theatre include Google, AWS, MediaKind, RTS, Gracenote, Lightricks, Evergent, GSMA, Tata Communications, and Sony. 

For example, the “AI-native media operations: Rethinking the content supply chain for growth” panel will welcome David Travis, Group Director, Content, Broadcast and Platforms, Sky, and Gorka Llort, Director, Digital Business at MotoGP, Sports Entertainment Group, as well as Just Hut, Lead, Media Experience, KPN, to reveal how AI is reshaping media operations, from content creation to monetisation.

Another highly promising session is “Redefining Content Production Management with Generative AI” at 12:15, which will feature: Buzz Hays, Global Lead, Entertainment Industry Solutions, Google Cloud; Bernie Milan; Global Lead GenMedia, AI Practice, Google Cloud; Kenna Hilburn, CPO, Avid Technology; and Kevin Lingley, EVP AI, Fremantle. The panel will examine how executives, producers, and creatives leverage generative AI tools to enhance production management in an era of relentless demand for fresh content.

Likewise, in the 16:00 “A Software Revolution: The Future of Content Workflows” session, Stuart Newton, Regional Sales Head, Sony, and David O'Carroll, Chief Operating Officer, Aurora Media Worldwide, will explore how software is redefining live and studio production, enabling rights holders, media platforms, broadcasters, and brands to respond more quickly to changing operational and commercial demands.

Exhibition floor  

Out on the exhibition floor, industry pioneers and innovators will roam the halls, exploring how the showfloor’s array of cutting-edge technology can transform their operations and the future of media and entertainment. From thought leadership to real-world case studies, tech showcases, and the latest industry developments, M&E’s most influential names will unveil top innovations that span the full spectrum of the industry.  

IBC’s 1,400 exhibitors this year include industry leaders such as Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Avid, Canon, EVS, Google, Haivision, Interra Systems, LucidLink, Microsoft, NEP Group, Octopus Newsroom, RED Digital Cinema, Sony, Dell Technologies and many, many more.  

To learn more and register for the IBC2026 Conference, click here.