IBC 2026 is a wrap, and we're coming home with more than tired feet. We picked up a TVBEurope Best of Show award, which was a brilliant way to finish four days in Amsterdam.

Between the stand in Hall 5 and our session on the Content Everywhere stage, we spoke to a lot of people about where the industry is heading. Some of it confirmed what we already suspected. Some of it has us rethinking the year ahead. Here's what we're bringing back.

AI is done being a talking point

Sessions this year weren't asking whether AI belongs in the workflow anymore. They were asking how to actually put it to work, from production through to distribution and newsroom operations. A few years ago, AI panels were mostly about potential. This year they were about deployment: what's actually running in production, what's failed, and what's still too risky to touch.

That matches what we're seeing with our own clients. Fewer people want a demo. More people want a plan, a timeline and a number attached to it. Curiosity has turned into procurement, and that changes the kind of partner they're looking for.

Sport is still the proving ground

The biggest shift in sport this year wasn't about technology. It was about ownership. Sports federations and rights holders are no longer happy to hand their audiences to someone else. They're launching their own D2C services, building direct relationships with fans and keeping the data and revenue that come with them.

That was the focus of our session on the Content Everywhere stage, where Ashley Reynolds-Horne joined the panel on why sports organisations are becoming media companies. GAA is a great example. We rebuilt their D2C platform across eight apps in under ten weeks, and this year GAA acquired the platform outright.

For rights holders thinking about going direct, time and cost used to be the barrier. With the right partner, they don't have to be.

Freely was the name on everyone's lips

We lost count of how many conversations turned to Freely. Broadcasters want to be on it, and the ones already there want to get more out of it, whether that means reaching new audiences or making their channels work harder commercially. For a platform that's still so young, it's already changing how UK broadcasters think about getting onto the big screen.

We know Freely inside out. We're the biggest provider on the platform, with more than 25 channels already live, and we've built everything we need to get new channels on air quickly and without the headaches.

If Freely is on your roadmap, we can get you there faster than you think. Get in touch and we'll show you how.

Trust is becoming a feature, not a value statement

Provenance and authenticity in content had a real presence this year, and not as an ethics footnote tacked onto the end of an AI panel. As AI-generated material gets harder to spot, verifying what's real is turning into something platforms need to build for, the same way they'd build for scale or uptime. It's no longer just a policy line in a terms of service document. It's becoming a product requirement.

Speed is the differentiator clients actually care about

Our own moment on stage was sharing how we rebuilt GAA's D2C platform across eight apps in under ten weeks, work that led to GAA acquiring the platform outright this year. It's a project we're proud of, and it mirrors the wider mood at the show.

Platform owners aren't just asking for new features anymore. They're asking who can deliver them fast enough to matter, before the moment they're building for has already passed. Speed used to be a nice-to-have. Now it's often the first question in the room.

Where this leaves us

None of this is new to us. It's the roadmap for the conversations we'll be having with clients and partners over the next twelve months: faster delivery, smarter AI adoption, and platforms built to earn trust rather than assume it.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the stand, sat in on the panel, or grabbed us in the hallways over the four days.  

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