What are the biggest trends shaping the media and entertainment industry?
Andy Bellamy, technical director, EMEA, AJA Video Systems: AI is looming large in media and entertainment (M&E). It’s a fast-growing space that AJA is tracking. We’re hearing of AI being deployed to help accelerate everything from common editing applications to logging clips and film and TV restoration.
IP and virtualisation are also topics of conversation right now, both introducing new possibilities for M&E and pro AV workflows. IP is ushering in the next era of connectivity for production and post, with SMPTE ST 2110 quickly gaining favour for its ability to transmit uncompressed audio and video. At the same time, the virtualisation of traditional hardware within a computing framework is opening new doors, helping to reduce the physical footprint of productions.
Also, the further democratisation of high-end production tools is fuelling the continued growth of the creator economy. Technology is advancing so rapidly and becoming more accessible today that nearly anyone with an iPhone and an editing app can create and stream compelling content in no time. To this end, a whole new world of visual storytelling is making its way to audiences that might never have before.
John Hickey, senior director, R&D and KVM systems at Black Box: The media and entertainment industry is being reshaped by hybrid workflows, cloud migration, growing demands for remote and virtual access, and increased experimentation with AI. Content providers are navigating challenges around latency, scalability, and security while responding to the shift toward distributed teams and virtualised environments.
There’s a strong push for flexible infrastructure that supports both physical and cloud-based systems. Control systems are evolving to enable centralised, software-defined oversight, which supports real-time responsiveness and efficient collaboration across geographies. These trends are fostering more agile operations, paving the way for a smarter and more sustainable production environment.
Paulo Francisco, vice president of engineering, EvertzAV: Several key trends are currently shaping the media and entertainment industry, including content creation, content distribution, and industry consolidation. These developments are driving the rapid adoption of IP-based and cloud-enabled workflows, enabling greater scalability and flexibility across organisations.
In terms of content creation, audiences are demanding more personalised experiences—ranging from live sporting events to podcasts. This is accelerating the need for resilient, modular, IP-based infrastructures that support hybrid cloud and remote production workflows. Such setups allow for real-time collaboration over both managed and unmanaged networks, from virtually anywhere.
Streaming and direct-to-consumer models are empowering content creators to reach audiences on any device, at any time. At the same time, growing expectations for seamless, always-on content delivery are shifting the industry’s focus toward disaster recovery, business continuity, and infrastructure upgradability.
Finally, personalisation, advanced analytics, and hybrid skill development have become critical. Users are increasingly seeking more control and tailored experiences, whether through AV systems or broadcast solutions, making adaptability and audience insight essential for success.
Mark Horchler, marketing director, products and solutions, Haivision: Broadcasters are under pressure to deliver high-quality content faster and more efficiently. Technologies such as remote production, IP transition, 5G, and cloud-based workflows are enabling more flexible, scalable, and reliable live production workflows, bringing broadcasters more ways to produce engaging content.
A good example of this is the widespread adoption of the SRT (Secure Reliable Transport) protocol, originally developed and open-sourced by Haivision. SRT enables low-latency, high-quality video streaming over unpredictable networks, including the public internet, allowing broadcasters to cost-effectively transport live content from virtually anywhere with enhanced reliability and security, which is critical in today’s remote and hybrid production environments.
Dan Pisarski, CTO, LiveU: The broadcast media landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by the rapid adoption of digital platforms and cutting-edge technologies like AI and 5G. This has reshaped consumer media consumption–from more “traditional” formats like linear TV to formats such as podcasts, social media platforms and ‘social video’ (like YouTube and Twitch). This has brought in new names and personalities as sources of both news and entertainment, but it is also an opportunity for traditional media producers who can adapt to creating content tailored to these formats, particularly for younger audiences.
We’re also seeing the digital democratisation of broadcasting, which is levelling the playing field, particularly in sports. The surge in online viewership and widespread access to digital platforms has given lower-division clubs and niche sports the tools to deliver broadcast-grade content at a fraction of traditional costs.
Leveraging remote, on-site, or fully cloud-based production workflows, these entities can scale their operations efficiently without sacrificing quality. IP-based production technologies enable even the smallest teams to engage directly with digitally native audiences, particularly Gen Z and millennials, who crave authentic and personalised narratives. This shift isn’t just about accessibility it’s about strategic transformation, allowing clubs to grow their reach, deepen fan engagement and build sustainable digital content ecosystems.
Anthony Zuyderhoff, executive director global sales, Riedel Communications: The media and entertainment industry is steadily shifting toward more agile, efficient, and distributed production models. A major trend is the move from traditional, proprietary hardware to software-defined workflows built on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) systems. This enables teams to produce from virtually anywhere, with remote and hybrid models gaining wider adoption.
Driving these changes is also a clear need to “do more with less.” As demand for content grows across platforms and formats, broadcasters and AV professionals are turning to scalable, modular, and IP-based systems that reduce infrastructure requirements while maintaining high quality and increasing operational and financial flexibility.
Altogether, these developments signal a deeper shift toward IT-centric production environments – where software, virtualisation, and distributed tools are key for building flexible, cost-effective, and future-ready workflows.
Which technologies are driving convergence between pro AV and broadcast, and why?
Andy Bellamy: Both industries are drawing inspiration from one another, with AV professionals borrowing broadcast technologies and strategies to uplevel the quality of content they can deliver to audiences, and broadcasters taking lessons out of the pro AV playbook to make their content more immersive.
4K, 8K, and HDR technologies are providing new ways for both industries to entertain and engage audiences with greater visual appeal. Digital signage is one area where this development is evident. Nearly anywhere you go today, you can find a digital display, be it a roadside billboard, EV charging station, the underground or airport, a restaurant, the gym, etc. Given the high resolutions and graphics capabilities of modern displays, more brands are leveraging them to share broadcast-quality imagery and video with audiences. We’re also beginning to see more broadcasters embrace virtual and augmented reality technologies, which have proven popular in AV for some time and similarly require higher resolution content development.
Fibre technology has also become an important consideration across both industries, as it can help feed the content that reaches these displays, with support for large raster sizes and high resolutions. Then, there is IP, which is also bringing broadcast and AV together, though approaches vary. Whereas a broadcast facility may adopt SMPTE ST 2110, an OB truck, House of Worship, or high school may opt for NDI or Dante. Both industries, however, are turning more to IP for greater long-term scalability, with many taking a hybrid approach that requires a solution for bridging between the worlds of baseband and IP.
Camera and streaming equipment accessibility in recent years is also playing a role in this convergence. More corporations, universities, concerts and sports venues, and other AV environments are investing in broadcast-like facilities and production studios to create and deliver content to audiences that rivals that of film and broadcast. At the same time, some broadcasters are experimenting with less expensive prosumer cameras previously used in AV environments where budgets ran tight.
With broadcast and pro AV now both capable of supporting higher resolutions and colour spaces, the sky is really the limit. I expect to see production quality continue to increase, and 4K and HDR soon become the norm across both industries, providing more vivid, detailed, and engaging content.
John Hickey: The convergence is being driven by IP-based control systems, virtualisation, and remote access technologies. Solutions like Black Box’s Emerald IP KVM allow access to both physical and virtual machines across LAN, WAN, and internet, supporting workflows in both broadcast and pro AV environments. These technologies eliminate the need for proprietary matrix switches and cabling, enabling high-performance control from virtually any location, which is crucial for hybrid operations. Enhanced interoperability, smart multiview interfaces, and API-driven automation also reduce friction between traditionally separate industries by offering scalable, flexible, and cost-efficient integration.
Paolo Francisco: The emergence of IPMX (Internet Protocol Media Experience) in the professional AV space is a major driver of convergence between broadcast and pro AV workflows. As a suite of open standards and specifications, IPMX builds on the media and entertainment industry’s ongoing transition to IP using SMPTE ST 2110. It allows the pro AV market to leverage broadcast-quality technologies—such as cameras, switchers, and routing infrastructure—for a wide range of applications, including (but not limited to) corporate live production, command centres, and hybrid event environments.
Mark Horchler: The growing use of IP-based video and cloud technology is bringing pro AV and broadcast workflows closer together. Technologies like SRT, ST 2110 and NDI enable the secure, low-latency delivery of high-quality video over IP networks, including local area networks (LAN) or the internet, making it easier for AV teams to utilise broadcast equipment and apply high levels of reliability and performance to corporate, education, and other types of live video productions and use cases.
Dan Pisarski: The epicentre of this convergence is the cloud. Pro AV was naturally faster to embrace a number of cloud-centric techniques, such as video contribution over unreliable internet, cloud distribution, and cloud production. As these techniques have migrated to pro broadcast, many of the technologies that underpin them came along with the migration, including technologies such as NDI and SRT, and specific product examples such as StreamDeck. In some cases, these technologies were better positioned to serve broadcast needs than other broadcast standards and technologies – a good example would be NDI’s use in cloud private networks, a place SMPTE ST 2110 was not ready to play.
Anthony Zuyderhoff: The convergence between pro AV and broadcast is being driven by shared adoption of software-defined tools, IT-centric infrastructure, and distributed workflows. As pro AV applications expand from in-room experiences to global distribution – think concerts, corporate events or second-screen experiences streamed to remote audiences – the technology requirements start to resemble those of traditional broadcast.
At the same time, both industries are aligning more closely with the IT world, with cloud, IP protocols, and scalable networked systems providing the flexibility and versatility required. As the traditional boundaries between AV and broadcast blur, it is not just a merging of tools–it is a convergence of workflows, expectations, and the broader digital ecosystem.
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