Kieran Phillips, director of sales and marketing at CJP Broadcast
A key trend over the last year has been the shift toward studios and broadcast systems that prioritise versatility over single-purpose design. Organisations want spaces that allow them to move between VP, traditional broadcast and wider AV tasks without switching environments or rebuilding workflows. It reflects a market that has matured beyond individual technologies and is now focused on integrated systems that support day-to-day content creation across many different teams.
This move toward multi-purpose studios is raising expectations across the sector. Broadcasters, corporates and education providers increasingly want systems that are resilient, easy to use and able to support a broad mix of outputs with minimal technical overhead. When VP, broadcast and AV infrastructure are integrated properly, smaller operational teams can work more efficiently and get more value out of the same space. As a result, usability and workflow coherence are becoming central to new project discussions.
2026 will see greater demand for intuitive, plug-and-play operation across both VP and traditional broadcast systems. The next wave of users includes influencers, marketing teams and educators who need professional output without the technical background of a film crew or broadcast engineering team. Studios that streamline setup, reduce complexity and support fast turnaround content will become increasingly important as these user groups grow.
Multi-platform production is set to become a major focus this year. Organisations increasingly need content that works across broadcast, YouTube, TikTok, virtual events and internal channels, often from the same workflow. That requires studio environments that can pivot quickly between formats and deliver consistent results across multiple platforms. This is driving a new phase of design and integration that puts flexibility and simplicity at the core of broadcast and production infrastructure.
Dominic Ridley, co-founder and director of Clear Angle Studios
Throughout the last year in 3D capture and processing we saw more demand for datasets designed with machine learning algorithms in mind, especially for the likes of 2D face replacements which would have traditionally required rigged digital heads created from 3D scans. It’s become something of a trend, and we often capture these datasets now alongside 3D scans for main cast members who appear in VFX shots. On top of this, the use of Gaussian Splatting in film production has expanded – not only for previs or virtual production, but to create digital elements for the final shots. The request for 4D data, whether it be by a traditional photogrammetry approach, or more by radiance field, is also growing.
VFX vendors are becoming more confident in how radiance fields fit into their pipeline. This is leading to much increased capture for an asset that’s relatively lightweight in final form, however quite the opposite as raw data. In the same breath, 2D capture for machine learning is very heavy, especially with a demand for higher framerates. All that being said, the need to store and manipulate mass amounts of data continues to increase as it has steadily done so since the beginning.
We anticipate that the demand for datasets will continue as these new techniques develop and become more established. As for Gaussian Splatting, it has seen fairly limited use in specific scenarios so far, but we expect this growth to continue in 2026 as the technology allows for more versatile assets. We also expect to see further developments in the output quality of machine learning algorithms, contributing to new and more realistic ways of achieving immersive, photorealistic VFX shots.
The limits of new technologies like radiance fields are currently unknown, but their potential for creating new user experiences is massive. We are looking forward to seeing experiments with volumetric 3D in broadcasting becoming a possibility, perhaps even real-time streaming, for live music, theatre or sports events. We anticipate a lot of research in this area over the next few years, and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can learn and contribute on the data capture side.
Paddy Taylor, head of broadcast, MRMC Broadcast
In 2025, one of the most noticeable trends was a gentle return toward best-of-breed solutions. Customers are once again looking at bringing together the tools that genuinely align with the needs of their specific workflows, even if that means building a more customised ecosystem, over compromising on a single-vendor toolset, which isn’t always the most efficient choice. At the same time, hybrid workflows supporting REMI and remote production have gained momentum. What was once considered an emerging approach is now becoming a standard expectation in live production environments.
These shifts are creating noticeable disruption, especially for larger, established software vendors where there can be less agility. In the short term, this movement has caused some setbacks in interoperability and compatibility, since not all manufacturers have the agile development pipelines or open integration frameworks needed for smoother adoption. Meanwhile, the rise of hybrid and REMI workflows has highlighted gaps in how these systems should operate, creating a strong push for clearer workflow definitions driven by real-world customer requirements.
This year, these trends are likely to deepen, and we are already seeing larger vendors invest in smaller specialist tools. This could create a cyclical pattern where innovation arises in smaller companies, gains traction, and is eventually absorbed into bigger ecosystems. The outcome will depend heavily on whether major vendors truly understand the value behind the tools they acquire. If they can preserve the flexibility and responsiveness that made these products attractive in the first place, the industry may see more harmonised, interoperable workflows. If not, customers may continue seeking independent alternatives, reinforcing the best-of-breed movement.
In 2026, emerging trends will likely centre on real-time rendering, live LED workflows, and expanded mixed-reality content creation. As production teams push for richer visual experiences and more immersive storytelling, real-time graphics engines and virtual production techniques will continue transitioning from niche tools to mainstream components of live and broadcast workflows. Mixed reality, which was once experimental, will become more polished, with clearer use cases.
Live production
Michael Wagenhofer, group CEO, Big Blue Marble
2025 marked the point where audiences stopped tolerating “good enough” streaming. Viewers now expect experiences which are supported by broadcast-level reliability, low latency, strong security and instant playback on any device. This shift has been reinforced by the surge in highly anticipated live sporting, news, and cultural events delivering moments where even minor performance issues can erode audience trust. As a result, the distinction between broadcast and streaming has effectively disappeared. The only measure that matters to audiences is whether the experience is consistently seamless, pushing providers to reassess their media infrastructures and elevate performance to broadcast-grade standards at global scale.
Organisations are discovering that legacy systems and fragmented workflows cannot sustain the consistency required across devices, networks and content types. Viewer behaviour is also evolving more quickly, with engagement extending well beyond a single viewing moment into highlight clips, social extensions and personalised recommendations. At the same time, pressures around piracy and credential abuse are accelerating. The result is a more urgent need for aligned technology and operations, faster decision-making and investment in modern delivery and protection frameworks that can reliably support broadcast-grade quality at scale.
In 2026, these expectations will drive deeper consolidation and cross-sector collaboration. Broadcasters, telcos, streamers, rights holders and technology platforms will increasingly combine capabilities to deliver more unified, consistent and scalable experiences. The media companies which are able to guarantee broadcast-grade reliability globally, supported by strong content protection and flexible monetisation, will become the preferred platforms for premium live content. Success will hinge not only on content strategy but on a platform’s ability to orchestrate quality and intelligence across multiple sectors.
We expect 2026 to bring a decisive push toward fully cloud-native, broadcast-grade architectures as core strategic investments. Broadcasters will prioritise systems that can scale reliably for major live events, maintain consistent quality across devices and regions, and support evolving workflows without disruption. This shift will also enable new forms of engagement and commercial models, as more flexible, data-driven infrastructures allow organisations to experiment with viewer experiences, hybrid monetisation and personalised extensions with greater confidence. Adopting resilient, intelligent architectures will position broadcasters for long-term growth rather than repeating legacy challenges.
Rainer Kampe, CTO, Broadcast Solutions
The hot topic of the moment in sports outside broadcasting is the trend towards remote production. Some would say this is inexorable progress. I would strongly disagree and say that remote production is a useful technique and very valuable in its place, but that the traditional outside broadcast – big mobile control room on site – still has a very important role to play.
We at Broadcast Solutions are systems integrators. We have built very complex remote production platforms. The Danish Superligaen decided to bring production and distribution of all professional football in the country in-house, creating Matchday Production in a joint venture with DMC to cover more than 800 games a year. Working with us, DMC chose to build a single central hub for all remote production. It is actually a very public facility, being built into a shopping mall in downtown Copenhagen.
Even given excellent bandwidth availability, I would suggest that medium sized production with some super slo-mo is optimal for remote production. More cameras could successfully be added, but the complexities grow, as you are working in a dynamic environment with moving remote vehicles or fly packs, and unique IP addresses for each venue. For bigger events, and for the most prestigious of games, I would suggest a traditional outside broadcast truck is still the better solution. When the value of the project is too high to risk, it puts all the people together on site, and it reduces the reliance on network connectivity. It is much better to use IP agility and connectivity bandwidth to provide multiple redundant paths for multiple finished feeds.
Returning to production, the pressures on those who create and deliver content are shifting dramatically. Television advertising income, even for premium sports, is challenging, and broadcasters and content services need to find new sources of revenue.
Social media and dedicated fan groups are a likely source, but they depend upon very fast turnaround of highlights clips and action stories. Dedicated journalist/editors need access to the content to create packages, format them for the various platforms, and get them online in minutes, maybe seconds.
Changing the way the content is gathered and produced, and changing the way it is delivered, calls for completely fresh thinking from top to bottom. Often this is spurred by a change of rights holder looking for a new and distinctive approach.
These changing workflows call for a completely new skillset. Far more than just understanding DNS settings, new technology capabilities can best be exploited by completely new ways of working.
For many, the goal of these new approaches is to bring down the cost of production. When discussing how to implement new technologies, the production company and system integrators must be talking about how best to use human resources. Can numbers on site be reduced; can jobs be multi-tasked; which new roles need to be created; how to achieve maximum productivity; and what training and recruitment is needed to put the necessary skills in place. Developing a new operational model, and managing the change around it, must be the central part of any plan. Armed with what you want to achieve, then you can determine how best to use the technology, and if remote production is right for your output.
Joao Tocha, CEO and founder, Digital Azul
The most striking shift I’ve observed over the last year is the move toward leaner, more adaptable production models that don’t sacrifice quality. Production teams are fundamentally rethinking the on-site versus remote equation, challenging assumptions that have shaped our industry for decades. We’re seeing this play out particularly clearly in multi-location events, where centralised control approaches are proving you can deliver exceptional quality with considerably fewer resources. It’s a development that’s catching many by surprise and forcing us all to reconsider what we thought we knew about production requirements.
This trend is dismantling long-held beliefs about what live production actually requires. The idea that you need full on-site crews and extensive infrastructure for every production is being challenged in real time. The ability to manage remote production effectively isn’t just changing logistics. It’s fundamentally altering the economics of live events, cutting operational costs and reducing environmental impact. What we’re really seeing is the emergence of a more agile production model for large-scale events, one that offers flexibility we simply didn’t have access to before.
I expect 2026 will bring more sophisticated automation into the mix, and that’s where things get interesting. As automation handles the repetitive, mechanical aspects of production, it frees creative teams to focus on what actually matters: storytelling and editorial decisions. This opens the door to more personalised viewing experiences, where content can be tailored to individual preferences without abandoning the traditional narrative structures that have always been at the heart of good broadcasting.
The evolution of multi-location production will continue, but with greater refinement. I anticipate we’ll see better integration of flexible production frameworks and smoother coordination between distributed teams. The constraints we’ve historically worked within (resources, geography, technical limitations) will continue to loosen. Production teams will have the ability to scale their operations up or down while maintaining the quality and precision that audiences expect. That flexibility will become the new baseline, not the exception.
Jean Macher, senior director, global SaaS solutions at Harmonic
In 2025, three trends stood out as especially transformative for the media and entertainment industry: the shift from 24/7 channels to event-based streaming for live sports, the evolution toward impression-based monetisation and the growing adoption of AI in video workflows.
The industry’s pivot toward event-based streaming reflects how viewers are now consuming premium sports — as high-value moments rather than continuous linear channels. This shift allows rights holders to tailor each event with its own video and audio quality settings, scaling model, security and monetisation strategy. At the same time, advertiser expectations are growing faster than publisher capabilities, evolving the industry toward addressability, in-stream ad formats and programmatic ad opportunities.
Finally, after years of experimentation, AI is becoming operational and a natural part of the workflow. A few of the use cases we are seeing include automated sports highlights, real-time translation, automated metadata and video compression efficiency. These are no longer prototypes. They’ve become a central part of video streaming and broadcast workflows.
These trends are reshaping media companies’ operational workflows, monetisation strategies and the economics of live streaming. Event-based streaming is giving operators more control and flexibility. This enables them to scale infrastructure precisely to the demands of a two-hour peak rather than a 24/7 channel. This shift is pushing the broader adoption of hybrid architectures, with predictable media processing staying on-premises and burst-driven live events moving to the cloud for elasticity.
Monetisation is also undergoing significant change. As advertisers demand impression-level accountability and in-stream ad formats – key to maintaining viewer engagement during live sports events – rights holders are compelled to modernise their ad strategies. CTV publishers that adapt quickly are seeing stronger fill rates and the ability to unlock new revenue.
Furthermore, AI is having a measurable impact on video streaming and broadcast delivery. Service providers are leveraging AI for everyday tasks that historically required significant manual effort, such as real-time highlights, speech-to-text, dynamic brand insertion, multilingual audio and advanced compression. These capabilities are improving efficiency, lowering distribution costs and enabling stronger viewer engagement.
In 2026, we expect these trends to mature and accelerate change. Live event-based streaming will evolve into fully bespoke live experiences, with rights holders applying differentiated video and audio quality, alternate commentary feeds, targeted anti-piracy measures and localised experiences on an event-by-event basis. More top-tier sports events will be built around cloud-hosted, event-specific workflows that deliver higher resiliency and better resource optimisation. Monetisation will take a step toward programmatic access for premium sports, as CTV publishers respond to advertiser pressure for greater addressability. The adoption of in-stream formats is expected to increase as rights holders look to boost monetisation while keeping audiences engaged. We also anticipate more operators will use AI across both cloud and on-premises environments, a trend that is enabled by stronger collaboration across the video ecosystem.
One emerging trend is the accelerating rise of AI for live event streaming, where AI tools help operators automatically assemble pop-up channels, provide multilingual versions of a live event based on audience interest and more. As AI frameworks mature, this kind of dynamic event packaging will become far more practical. We’ll also see live sports events become increasingly global in distribution. With AI-powered translation, summarisation and dubbing becoming more reliable, rights holders will increasingly localise events for international audiences, unlocking new monetisation opportunities and expanding reach beyond traditional markets.
In addition, we expect tighter partnerships between video technology companies, cloud providers and GPU/AI vendors, enabling more efficient real-time media processing, lower operational costs and stunning video quality. AI-powered content-aware encoding will be key to enabling low latency and high video quality for premium sports and live events, using technology available today that enables a bitrate reduction of up to 50 per cent.
Finally, as viewer engagement metrics become more directly tied to revenue, service providers will experiment with deeper in-experience enhancements — from in-stream ads to personalised highlights, multiview and interactive overlays — to keep audiences engaged for longer periods.
Alistair Horne, director, Hornets Tech
Over the last 12 months, the most noticeable trend has been the move toward getting closer to the action with far more confidence. Teams are pushing into places that used to be considered too difficult or too unpredictable to work in, whether that is sport, film or large outdoor events. The appetite for capturing perspectives that feel more immediate has grown a lot. The interesting part is that people are no longer impressed by technology alone. They want tech that holds up in the real world and that shift toward practicality has stood out the most.
It is changing what people expect from a production day. There is far less tolerance for long setups or fragile links that only work in perfect conditions. Crews want options that let them move freely, adjust on the fly and still trust that everything will behave the way it needs to when the pressure is on. This mindset is encouraging more experimentation. You can see teams trying new angles, new positions and new environments because they feel more supported by the tools they are using. It is opening the door to more ambitious creative decisions.
In 2026, I see the industry leaning even harder into adaptability. Productions are becoming more dynamic and the people running them want systems that keep up rather than slow them down. There will be more interest in setups that can survive unpredictable conditions, whether that is a busy RF environment, a large moving set or a live location with lots happening at once. The focus is shifting toward making the entire chain more resilient, so creative decisions are not limited by the technical boundaries that used to hold teams back.
I think we will see a stronger push toward integrated field expertise. Technology is evolving so quickly that teams want people who can connect the dots between engineering, storytelling and on the ground realities. There will also be more interest in capturing moments in places where traditional setups would never survive. Productions are becoming braver and more curious about what is possible and I think 2026 will bring a wave of projects that test those limits in smart, practical ways.
James Taylor, CEO, InSync
In 2026, content quality will matter more than ever. Across media archives, live production and distribution, the integrity of assets determines what broadcasters can achieve downstream. Media organisations will need to confront the fact that investing in asset quality has become a prerequisite for effective content analysis, cloud-based orchestration, and reliable multi-platform delivery.
Initiatives like Time Addressable Media Store (TAMS) illustrate a broader trend of cloud-native workflows becoming the path of choice, with API-driven interoperability facilitating fast-turnaround content production. This represents a move away from a “files-first” approach, toward “content-centric” and “time-centric” thinking. However, without maximising content quality, even the most sophisticated infrastructure cannot deliver to its full potential.
An emphasis on quality highlights the impact of technical debt accumulated over decades of incremental technology adoption. Legacy formats, interlacing, varying frame rates, and older codecs may have once been manageable, but in 2026 they now complicate workflows and increase the risk of errors in both live and file-based content. Broadcasters will need to tackle these issues systematically, converting, standardising, and enriching assets to ensure they are optimised for the next-generation of infrastructure.
High-quality content is also the key to unlocking the promise of AI. Broadcasters are deploying machine learning and automation, but AI’s performance is directly tied to the ingested material. In 2026, the industry will increasingly recognise that AI comes in many guises. This is driving the need for a clearer AI taxonomy within broadcast workflows, rather than treating AI as a single, homogeneous capability. Supervised machine learning, automation, and generative models each serve very different purposes, and applying the wrong approach to the wrong problem introduces risk rather than value. The right category of AI needs to be used for the right application, but it is ultimately a tool that requires a strong foundation to deliver measurable efficiency gains.
Live production provides a particularly visible example of these combined pressures. In 2026, major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, will test broadcasters’ ability to deliver flawless output across multiple platforms and geographies. Cloud workflows are being adopted more selectively and strategically to support these events. Centralised compute can scale rapidly, but security, network reliability, and cost variability remain concerns. Hybrid models, combining on-premise infrastructure with elastic cloud resources, allow broadcasters to spin up capacity for peak demand, whilst maintaining control over critical processes. Within these premium environments, IP-based production using SMPTE ST 2110 is increasingly catching up with SDI in terms of reliability and operational confidence.
In 2026, the broadcasters who invest in content quality and deploy hybrid infrastructure strategically will be positioned to deliver reliable, high-quality viewing experiences across platforms. In a landscape of rising audience expectations, quality is no longer just a technical consideration, it is the foundation on which all other processes are built.
Yossi Dayan, chief growth officer, Pixellot
Three connected trends defined 2025. First, youth and participation sport has moved firmly into the mainstream as a media category. Families, grandparents and local communities now expect to watch every match, while young athletes increasingly act as content creators, clipping highlights and sharing moments online. Every child has the chance to be “a star for a moment”, with growing demand for these experiences to be captured consistently and distributed across platforms that increasingly support sustainable viewing and revenue models rather than pure cost centres.
Second, there has been a marked acceleration in the digitisation of sporting venues across the UK and EMEA. Facilities are investing in the infrastructure required for automated capture and analysis at scale, including improved connectivity, dedicated mounting points for multi-angle systems, enhanced lighting, digital scoreboards and cloud-ready workflows. Supported by initiatives such as the UK Government’s £900 million grassroots facilities upgrade, more venues are now equipped for continuous, high-quality coverage and for deploying monetisation and engagement layers that turn participation sport into a viable digital ecosystem.
Third, the democratisation of sport continues. Commercial models are emerging for participation-level content, shifting viewing platforms from being operational expenses to measurable revenue generators, while elite-grade coaching and analysis tools are increasingly accessible to schools and grassroots clubs, raising standards and widening opportunity through advanced, AI-driven insight that was once exclusive to professional sport.
These trends are reshaping where the M&E industry perceives value. Participation sport now produces some of the largest volumes of live content globally, driving widespread adoption of cloud-native, automated workflows capable of supporting thousands of fixtures without crews or trucks and enabling platforms to scale both distribution and monetisation efficiently. For broadcasters and platforms, this represents both operational and strategic change. What was once a cost centre is becoming a viable asset class, enabling blended commercial models across sponsorship, subscriptions, pay-per-view, social monetisation and community funding. Families now expect video enriched with data, highlights and personalised feeds, pushing vendors to close the longstanding gap between capture, analysis and distribution while embedding AI more deeply across the content lifecycle.
Crucially, the improved infrastructure means every school, college and grassroots club can now behave as its own broadcaster, controlling production, distribution and monetisation through platforms that increasingly integrate AI-driven automation, personalisation and revenue optimisation. In some markets, participation sport has grown enough to sustain dedicated streaming services and even satellite channels, as demonstrated by SuperSport Schools.
In 2026, these developments will begin to form a more unified and integrated ecosystem. Venues across the UK and EMEA will increasingly be built or refurbished as digital-first facilities, with embedded capture, connectivity and media infrastructure supporting training, fixtures and community events alongside integrated monetisation and engagement capabilities.
Streaming will shift beyond linear broadcasts toward adaptive, contextualised feeds that automatically assemble the most relevant angles and moments for parents, coaches or scouts. Automation will deepen across tagging, editing and publication, strengthening the link between production, analytics and fan-facing platforms as AI moves from assisting workflows to actively driving them.
A defining emerging trend will be the next phase of the democratisation of sport, where communities increasingly behave as micro-broadcasters using digital tools to build visibility, identity and sustainable funding models. This will align closely with efforts across the UK and EMEA to modernise facilities, grow participation and strengthen community engagement while ensuring participation sport can fund itself long term.
Secondly, AI agents will become embedded in live workflows, automating scheduling, capture, tagging, editing and publishing and increasingly optimising engagement and monetisation decisions in real time. This autonomy will support new commercial structures based on real engagement and measurable performance.
Third, elite-grade coaching and analytics will become far more widespread, helping clubs at all levels improve training quality and player experience through deeper, sport-specific AI insight.
Finally, talent pathways will grow more inclusive and fluid. Shareable, structured video will allow young athletes to be discovered without relying on geography or traditional scouting routes, reinforcing the idea that anyone, anywhere, deserves to be seen.
Norbert Paquet, head of live production, Sony Europe
2025 was a year of convergence with the combination of continuing economic pressure, consolidation, and pragmatic technology adoption. Across the Media and Entertainment industry, players have operated under financial constraints, driving a notable increase in M&A activity—on the supplier side, among production companies, and within service providers. A second trend was efficiency. Content creation expanded across multiple tiers—from premium broadcasters to brands producing AV material for social platforms. The industry is still in a “do more with same” mindset, for everything from tooling to staffing.
AI has shifted from the “everything, everywhere” hype phase into a more mature, pragmatic one. Stakeholders are identifying where AI delivers practical value inside the media supply chain. At the same time, storytelling remains central. Even as workflows evolve, the creation of authentic, high-quality narratives continues to be the industry’s central nervous system. As such we now see AI assisting the creative process, for instance AI-powered PTZ cameras that allow subjects to be framed automatically, offering additional cost effective ways to operate cameras and bring new angles to the productions.
Finally, 2025 saw growing exploration of 5G for contribution, and the emergence of software-defined broadcast (SDB) – a trend echoing the shift from linear to nonlinear workflows or the migration to IP a few years ago. This comes together with a push toward open APIs and modularity, aiming to avoid vendor lock-in.
The combination of economic and technological trends is reshaping the industry’s operations, workforce, and technology stack. Efficiency drives every decision, from system upgrades to staffing. IP and distributed architectures are enabling more scalable, modular workflows, while open APIs are directly transforming how organisations integrate systems. This change alters the nature of long-standing professional services, away from traditional cable-and-stack engineering toward DevOps-style software integration. Some broadcasters are even building internal development teams, effectively becoming micro-manufacturers.
AI’s pragmatic adoption is lowering operational costs in areas such as automated camera operations, content creation, and parts of live production. It is also enabling a more democratic access to high-quality storytelling tools, supporting lower-tier sports, simplified live productions, and cost-efficient studio alternatives. In the news sector, two parallel pressures are now established: the need for authenticity -fighting mis- and disinformation – and the need for efficiency. This is increasing demand for digital signatures acquisition devices, spanning both still and video, amongst others. The exploration around 5G contribution and software-defined broadcast is unlocking more flexible live workflows. Tools for augmented-reality graphics and tracking in outdoor environments are pushing creative boundaries and expanding storytelling possibilities beyond the studio.
Finally, sustainability remains a cross-industry expectation. Organisations are evaluating, as a prerequisite, workflows, power consumption, travel, and supply chains to reduce their carbon footprint.
In 2026, these trends will deepen rather than radically shift. Economically, the industry will continue prioritising efficiency, modularity, and lower-cost production models, particularly as interest rates normalise and deferred investments slowly restart.
Software-defined broadcast will advance further into its exploration and early-adoption phase. As happened during earlier transitions – from tape to file-based workflows and from SDI to IP – SDB will mature gradually. The focus will be on workflow-specific implementations, not wholesale transformation. Hybrid architectures will dominate, with open APIs playing an increasingly central role in ensuring flexibility. AI will see expansion in automated operations, content versioning, metadata extraction, and AI-assisted live production, especially where clear ROI exists. Connectivity-driven workflows using 5G contribution will also reach new levels of maturity in Europe, supporting more agile live productions and enabling new formats across sports and news.
From a human perspective, 2026 will also be one of upskilling and role transformation. Software-centric architectures will require new knowledge bases and competencies – DevOps engineers, cloud workflow specialists, and hybrid media technologists – with a parallel redefinition of what is handled in-house vs outsourced. Sustainability will continue to be a focus, with organisations choosing lower-power infrastructure, reducing travel, and optimising distributed workflows.
This year will see the emergence of AR-powered live storytelling, including outdoor-capable tracking systems such as OCELLUS, will break the traditional boundaries of the studio and provide “storytelling without walls.” Combined with AI-powered cameras, they will expand creative options for both premium and lower-tier productions. There will also be a focus on simplified live production: toolsets designed to bring high-quality production to corporate creators, women’s sports, grassroots tournaments, and podcasts. This reflects the broader democratisation of production capabilities. Third, we will see increased attention to mission-critical multivendor integration and open frameworks: As customers take on more development themselves, manufacturers like Sony with deep expertise in architecture, orchestration, and support will play a critical role in ensuring stability and scale.
Rory Springthorpe, co-founder and MD, Vivid Broadcast
2025 brought further consolidation within the outside broadcast industry which directly serves the media and entertainment industry, with the merger of EMG/Gravity and another round of facilities companies that have gone into liquidation, whilst NEP have had to have another massive round of investment to reduce debt. Budget pressures remain across most sectors, combined with an understanding that freelancer rates and staff salaries have had to increase, resulting in facilities providers being further squeezed. Combine this with the rising costs of services, logistics, finance, and insurance; and the broadcast industry continues to face a firestorm of challenges.
Remote production continues to gather traction, and what’s interesting now is seeing what is being tagged as ‘Remote 2.0’. Like many production companies, at Vivid, we saw the initial push to remote accelerated through Covid with the first round of solutions. The current picture is that there’s a more considered and strategic remote offering – there is no one size fits all when it comes to remote production, and there are some great developments in the space that really increase what’s possible – from encoders to cloud solutions. Initially, the drivers were around unrealistic cost-cutting, green credentials, or Covid pressures, rather than really looking at how remote workflow can benefit the wider production.
In many ways the traditional OB facilities and kit hire model is broken. In the last few years, we’ve seen a massive reduction of providers in the hire and facility sector, including both large and small firms. There is definitely opportunity, but huge challenges remain and it’ll be fascinating to see how this continues to play out.
Whilst there are cost savings within remote, many of the other drivers around reducing the amount of wasted travel time for crew, improving work life balance, bringing consistency of gallery and editorial team across a project, centralised workflows, and increasing productivity can often have a more major impact.
We’ve seen most of the major OB facilities providers increase their remote production facilities offering through investments in new trucks. We’ve invested in three new remote vehicles ranging from 4-20 cameras, and we definitely see that there is an appetite for small to medium-sized solutions that are far more agile, low footprint and sustainable.
Cost savings need to start coming from other areas of the production rather than just bigger discounts. There needs to be new ways of working. In the US contracts are generally longer than in the UK where the short term commitment makes investments very challenging. It’s not easy to see how this changes anytime soon but new solutions will have to be found as the current model is unsustainable.
The range of remote options will continue to expand and connectivity improve resulting in more productions being able to leverage remote workflow. There’s no limit to how remote could potentially transform the industry in the coming years, especially in areas like sport. At Vivid, we’ve seen major growth here this year and it’s already looking like 2026 will see a massive increase in projects delivered through remote capabilities. Whilst sport is a big driver for remote production, we expect to see other genres starting to explore the workflow, which will further drive our R&D in technology, especially in genres such as music where latency is so much more a driving factor.
There is plenty of opportunity but we can’t expect it to be business as usual this yearl. A reshaping of the OB industry seems inevitable – in many ways the model is broken and there needs to be new ways of innovation. Some have even questioned whether there is a future for OB as it currently operates. The industry will evolve, as it always does, but some sort of realignment is coming and Vivid is ready to play a key role in what comes next. Also, across the industry, we can say for sure that many businesses will be keeping a keen eye on how AI can assist the way we work and ease some pressures, whilst generating new work for people, rather than focusing on potential pitfalls. We’re already seeing some exciting benefits and there is no doubt these will really pick up pace in 2026.
Media eXchange Layer
Keir Shepherd, chief solutions officer at Encompass
Adoption of cloud-native services and software-defined architectures as the primary path for production and distribution of tier 1 live sports and entertainment content expanded throughout the last year. We’re reaching an intersection of maturity, experience, capability, reliability and cost-effectiveness in the media and entertainment space: a growing number of tier 1 content owners feel comfortable leveraging cloud-native and software-defined services as their primary, and in some cases sole, route for production and distribution of the largest sports and entertainment live events globally. 2025 also saw the industry moving from acceptance to embracing AI as a beneficial and complementary technology, initially finding major market adoption across localisation and access services workflows, and personalisation for direct-to-consumer services.
For most across the industry, these changes are beginning to relieve some cost pressures. Organisations are dealing with growing financial constraints as advertising revenues and subscriptions become more widely spread; everyone is operating in a more competitive marketplace and looking for technologies and suppliers to deliver cost savings while maintaining quality and growing capability and reach.
Software-defined and cloud-native services allow organisations to minimise risk and capital expenditure as they look to expand and explore further options for monetisation: these services provide a rapid path to market and the flexibility to adapt as the audience and service demands change.
We see the adoption and value of AI continuing to grow in 2026, and, in particular, assistive AI technologies supporting more of the highly skilled creative aspects of the media lifecycle. From accelerated logging to support highlight, trailer and promo creation to assisted compliance editing and descriptive metadata generation tailored for social platforms, many of the (often time-consuming) elements of creative workflows will benefit further from the growing quality and cost benefits that AI is bringing.
One area we see really developing in 2026 is a broader range of specialist sports and entertainment providers looking to offer their own direct-to-consumer services, both for live events and as a mechanism to monetise their archives. This strategy will work alongside and be complementary to their existing agreements with aggregators, but will allow more of these organisations to realise great revenue from their rights.
In 2026 we anticipate, and hope for, accelerated vendor adoption and large-scale deployments of broadcast infrastructure using the Media Exchange Layer (MXL) architecture. The MXL approach is designed to overcome the inherent costs and complexities present in 2110 architectures. It builds on top of commodity network infrastructure, both in data centre and cloud deployments, and allows the full potential of dynamic, software-defined services to be realised, delivering huge benefits for services delivering complex live events.
This year we expect more broadcast technology vendors and cloud platforms to announce support for MXL, and for MXL interoperability to become a de facto requirement for new products from vendors across the industry.
Jan Eveleens, product division CEO at Riedel
In 2025, a few major themes stood out. First, broadcasters and media organisations were under increasing pressure to “do more with less.” As budgets tighten and content output grows, total cost of ownership, workflow efficiency, and resource utilisation have become key decision drivers. Second, the transition to IP-based infrastructure remains far from complete but still continues to gain momentum. This evolution isn’t just about replacing legacy cabling; it’s paving the way for more software-defined, COTS-based systems and even cloud deployment. Within this context, the Media eXchange Layer (MXL) initiative was particularly exciting to watch last year. By bringing vendors and broadcasters together to define an open-source layer for interoperable media exchange between software components, MXL aims to reduce integration friction and increase flexibility. As it matures, it has the potential to fundamentally reshape how production environments are designed, scaled, and maintained.
The combined effect of financial pressure, resource constraints and rising production complexity is redefining how broadcasters approach media operations. With tighter budgets, smaller crews, and rising audience expectations for UHD, HDR, immersive and social-media integrated content, traditional hardware-heavy workflows strain to keep up. Consequently, more organisations are rethinking their production infrastructure – shifting toward IP-native networked solutions, modular architectures, automation and software-driven workflows. This shift enables them to maintain high production quality while reducing physical footprint and cutting costs. The opportunity lies in leveraging technology to deliver more content faster, more reliably, and more economically – a change that is already underway across the industry.
In 2026, those who can produce more content across multiple platforms with fewer resources will gain a competitive edge – and those that have already invested in IP and software-defined infrastructures will be best positioned to capitalise on it. We expect the Media eXchange Layer (MXL) initiative to deliver its first tangible results, as partners complete initial proofs-of-concept and begin early deployments. By replacing heavy, vendor-locked hardware pipelines with flexible software-defined workflows, MXL will allow broadcasters to build scalable, modular systems – on-prem or in the cloud – and to orchestrate resources dynamically. This evolution promises significantly reduced latency, greater interoperability, and far more efficient resource use – a compelling path forward for modern media production.
While the existing trends will deepen, I anticipate a few new waves to emerge from them in 2026. First, as software and cloud-based systems become more mainstream, the demand for robust interoperability and cybersecurity will grow – especially in live production where reliability is non-negotiable. Second, I expect adoption of AI-driven tools beyond experimental pilots: AI will evolve from buzzword to utility, supporting automated production tasks, intelligent media processing, metadata enrichment, and real-time analytics. Finally, the combination of software-first workflows, open-source media exchange (like the MXL initiative), and cloud-native infrastructure will create a new breed of agile, hybrid production environments – enabling smaller teams to deliver high-end content with efficiency, flexibility, and resilience.
David Edwards, product manager, Techex
In 2025, the broadcast industry continued down the path of seeking solutions that deliver greater operational efficiencies, to seek ways to capture viewers for longer and engage with them more deeply.
Fulfilling these goals has taken the industry towards greater use of software and cloud processing, to deliver faster reactiveness and deployment speeds as well as dynamic scalability. With so much broadcast processing now taking place in the cloud, I see a change developing to connect cloud processing platforms more natively and effectively – connecting video services in the compute domain rather than the IP domain. In terms of moving captivating content closer to the edge, towards the viewer, there has been a clear transition away from classic, linear satellite distribution to IP/cloud delivered services, lowering costs and reflecting the need to dynamically adjust the service offering to suit viewer demands.
In switching from classical linear satellite platforms, I am seeing IP and cloud distribution systems gain more granularity in tailoring the content to individual takers. Technology is now available to trigger highly customised ad-insertion to better monetise content. IP and cloud-based processing also allow programme content to be visually seamlessly switched in the transport stream domain. The resulting impact being that takers’ content can be more locally tailored – enhancing viewer engagement. Connectivity remains a point of focus in other areas too. With cloud processing becoming more ingrained in broadcast workflows, new connectivity solutions such as MXL and TAMS are being developed. The technology is still evolving but the migration to SMPTE 2110-based media exchange has been bumpy for some, so the ability to exchange content by directly accessing compute memory and storage is being looked on favourably to radically simplify production workflows in the future.
2026 is a year of major sporting events. Content will be shared globally. Expectations of viewers are high.
Major broadcast events are frequently a key driver for transition and change. With these dynamics at play, there will be a keen focus on delivering content across the globe with a razor-sharp focus on engaging viewers with immersive content more than ever before.
Cloud-based broadcast platforms egressing to IP distribution are going to be critical to providing the elasticity, scalability and taker customisation needed to ensure that viewer expectations are met.
In terms of broadcast workflows interfacing in the cloud at the compute level, 2026 will likely be the year when deployments can be measurably proven to have evolved from pilot phases into active implementations. TAMS is leading the charge but 2025’s IBC Accelerator project, in which Techex played a key part, clearly demonstrated how rapidly MXL is evolving.
There is a huge desire for AI to be the next key driver for transformational change in broadcast – as in many other business areas. Money and engineering resources are being driven into AI R&D at scale. That scale of investment will undoubtedly have an impact this year. The scope for AI to touch broadcasting is vast. But considering what is within near-term reach and could lead to impactful change, Agentic AI solutions are looking interesting. Cloud providers are already positioning AI agents capable of driving customer applications through a single, abstracted API layer. For broadcasters, this could dramatically reduce setup and deployment times and configuration overhead. If AI agents do become successful, there is the potential here for one of the most transformative operational shifts since the introduction of IP production.
Sustainability
Jono O’Reilly, founder and MD, NXTGENbps
Sustainability was one of the most consistent themes last year, and what stands out to me is that everyone agrees it should be a priority, yet many productions still struggle to put it into practice. There is genuine interest in cleaner power and a real desire to cut noise, fumes and fuel use, but teams are often held back by tight budgets, habit and the worry that trying something different might disrupt a shoot. So while the intention is strong, the practical shift is slower than many expected, and that gap between ambition and action has become a trend in its own right.
This tension is shaping day to day decision making across the industry. Crews are starting to question their traditional setups, explore alternatives and think more carefully about how they use energy. But when the pressure of a production builds, many fall back on the familiar because it feels safer. It is not resistance, it is uncertainty. People want to move toward cleaner power, after all, the benefits are massive – cost efficiency, flexible power set-ups and reduced transport costs to name a few – but they are trying to balance sustainability with real world constraints. The result is a transition period where progress is happening, just not as quickly or as confidently as the conversation around it might suggest.
I expect 2026 to be the year where crews become more confident through experience rather than theory. Once teams see that sustainable power can run reliably and slot into existing workflows, the hesitation starts to fade. What will really drive progress next year is practical clarity. Not high-level commitments, but honest conversations about what battery solutions can handle, where they fit and how to plan for them. As more productions gain that clarity, we will see a shift from isolated trials to more consistent use, supported by closer collaboration between technical teams and sustainability leads.
One new trend I can see gaining real traction in 2026 is the idea of productions being measured on how efficiently they use energy, not just how much carbon they produce. Think of it as an energy performance rating for film and TV. The moment studios and broadcasters start comparing suppliers on how smartly they manage power, everything changes. Crews suddenly have a commercial reason to cut waste, plan properly and choose cleaner solutions because it becomes part of how they win work. It would take sustainability out of the moral category and put it firmly in the competitive one, and that could be the push the industry has been waiting for.
