Over the last few days, IBC2026 welcomed 41,225 attendees from 170 countries through the doors of the RAI in Amsterdam. That’s compared to 43.858 attendees in 2025.
According to the show organisers, there were more than 1,300 exhibitors at IBC2026, with first-time exhibitors up by 36 per cent with 256 companies making their IBC debut.
“IBC’s superpower is the power to convene our industry,” said Mike Crimp, CEO of IBC. “Our industry has always been at its best when people come together, embrace new technology, and work through challenges to create real opportunity. That’s why IBC remains so important. We bring together all corners of the industry to demonstrate how innovation can solve practical challenges.”
IBC2027 will mark the show’s 60th anniversary, with organisers promising to “build on the business activity, partnerships and practical innovation generated at IBC2026 while continuing to evolve how the global media and entertainment community meets, shares knowledge and addresses common challenges”.
IBC will return to the RAI Amsterdam from 10–13 September 2027.
IBC Innovation Awards
On Sunday night, the winners of this year’s IBC Innovation Awards were announced.
The Innovation Awards celebrate collaborative, real-world breakthroughs across four categories—Content Creation, Content Distribution, Content Everywhere and Social Impact.
The four winners are:
Content Creation: Media eXchange Layer (MXL)—An open-source initiative established by the European Broadcasting Union in collaboration with the North American Broadcasters Association, hosted by the Linux Foundation and deployed by CBC/Radio-Canada. The project involved contributions from a wide range of industry partners.
Content Distribution: Capacity that follows the live news story—Reuters replaced fixed-capacity infrastructure with a Global Shared Memory ecosystem powered by TVU Networks’ MediaMesh, enabling event-driven, API-orchestrated news distribution, including partner integrations: InSync, Kinetiq, Sony, Elecard and TAG Video Systems.
Content Everywhere: Implementation of DTV+ in Brazil—Through DTV+, Globo has combined the reach of free-to-air television with the personalisation and measurability of digital media. By integrating broadcast and broadband, it reconnects mass audiences with digital capabilities. The project involved collaboration across government, broadcasters and industry.
Social Impact: Closing the sign language gap—G&L Systemhaus brought together AI company Signapse, software company Norsk/id3as and CDN provider Akamai to build a broadcast-grade, AI-powered sign language solution for live and on-demand streaming.
“Our 2026 IBC Innovation Awards winners share a common thread in breaking down previously insurmountable geographical, language, and organisational barriers to open media workflows,” said Fergal Ringrose, chair of the Innovation Awards Jury. “Each winner realises a transformational environment for collaborative, cloud-native, software-first digital ecosystems.”
