IBC2026 has announced its Conference programme, featuring speakers from across the media and entertainment industry.
The opening keynote, Disrupt, Innovate, Create: How to Embrace AI, will be delivered by the founder and CEO of Particle 6, Eline van der Velden, who will be accompanied virtually by her AI creation, Tilly Norwood. Themes explored will include the growing influence of AI on content production and the role of human imagination.
“IBC is a cornerstone event in the media and entertainment calendar, and its ability to bring leading creatives and technology experts from around the world together for knowledge exchange and collaboration makes it truly unmissable,” said van der Velden.
The subject of AI will be further covered in sessions including: CTO Perspectives: How AI is Reshaping the Business of Media?, with senior technology leaders from Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and Canal+; Keynote: Innovating to Deliver the News of Tomorrow, led by Alex Charalambides, SVP and CTO of CNN and Case studies: Applying AI: Predictive, generative or agentic?, featuring speakers from Respeecher, Bertelsmann and ITN.
Mahesh Bhalerao, YouTube’s regional director of product partnerships will host another keynote discussing how broadcasters and digital platforms can collaborate to reach audiences and unlock growth, while Anna Mallett, VP production at Netflix will explore the impact of international collaboration, virtual production, cloud-based postproduction and AI-assisted workflows.
Live sport, the creator economy and more
With live sport forming another major focus at the 2026 Conference, speakers from FIFA, Liga Portugal, OBS, UEFA and Women’s Super League will discuss the evolution of live sports production, AI, data, fan engagement, rights and distribution.
OBS CEO Yiannis Exarchos, taking part in the Live Sports at Scale: Redefining the Art of the Possible panel, commented, “The discussions at IBC help to connect strategic trends with practical execution and to turn emerging ideas into industry-wide progress, ultimately creating better experiences for billions of sports fans around the world.”
Examining the growth in the creator economy, social platforms and brands, media cartographer Evan Shapiro will host The Creator Economy Rules, with a panel featuring BBC Studios Digital Brands, Snap, Tubi, Sidemen Entertainment and Meta.
Brands as Media: Reinventing the Relationship between Content and Advertising, will examine how brands are reshaping content, advertising, culture and audience communities with speakers from Banijay, Vice Media Group, Vinted and M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment Europe.
Claire Enders CBE, CEO and founder of Enders Analysis will deliver the keynote: Too Big to Compete? Media Consolidation in 2026.
“AI, social platforms and the fragmentation of audiences are shaking the foundations of premium entertainment and raising questions about its future – yet the broadcast ecosystem has repeatedly demonstrated its resilience and ingenuity in the face of technological change,” said Enders. “This global event is happening at a pivotal moment for our industries.”
Questions of strategy
The Conference will address strategic and technical questions, with sessions including: Television’s Great Rewiring: Strategy, Policy and Audience Enjoyment in the All-IP Era and Choice, Curation and Context? What do Audiences Want, from Where and How?, with speakers from Samsung TV Plus, ITV and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Security, Authenticity and Provenance: How Can We Trust the Content We Have Now and in the Future? will feature speakers from LaLiga, Globo and Google, while panellists from EBU, JioStar and Crunchyroll will discuss Technology Fit for The New Era of Broadcasting.
The Conference will feature the IBC Technical Papers Programme, which his year has an expanded scope including technical policy,. Sessions will feature AI production, coding, trust and provenance, XR and multiview, the future of TV distribution, dynamic media facility developments, AI indexing and more.
Sally Watts, content manager at IBC, commented, “The IBC2026 Conference reflects an industry that is no longer asking what advances are coming, but how to put them to work. Across AI, sport, the creator economy, advertising, news, trust in content, audience behaviour and monetisation, this year’s programme brings together the people defining M&E’s future and inspires debate around the questions the industry needs to address now.”
