IBC 2025 Preview: Immersive and interactive experiences take center stage

The broadcast industry stands at a crossroads between traditional linear viewing and emerging immersive technologies that promise to fundamentally change how audiences consume content.

Extended reality (XR), virtual production, interactive storytelling and data-driven personalization are moving from experimental concepts to practical applications across news, sports, and entertainment programming. This shift comes as broadcasters face mounting pressure to engage younger demographics who increasingly expect personalized, interactive experiences.

Generation Z audiences demonstrate markedly different consumption patterns compared to traditional viewers, favoring short-form, participatory content over passive viewing experiences. Meanwhile, advances in cloud-native architectures, 5G broadcast capabilities, and more accessible production tools are lowering technical barriers that previously limited immersive content to high-budget productions.

The convergence of artificial intelligence with XR technologies is creating new possibilities for real-time, audience-specific content delivery.

These developments suggest that immersive experiences may transition from niche applications to mainstream broadcast offerings, though questions remain about commercial viability, technical scalability, and user adoption rates.

As IBC 2025 approaches, technology vendors and industry professionals are addressing key challenges around commercial viability, accessibility and user adoption in this emerging space. The discussions reflect both optimism about the potential for new revenue streams and pragmatic concerns about implementation costs and audience readiness.

Commercial opportunities emerge across verticals

Industry executives see distinct commercial potential in immersive content across news, sports, and entertainment sectors, though approaches vary by application.

“Immersive content streaming will likely happen on personal XR devices, where the convergence of XR and AI enables interactive 360° and 180° video experiences far beyond the traditional 2D screen, paired with always-accessible, personalised interfaces,” said Lucy Trang Nguyen, business development director at Accedo.

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These interfaces will be “populated with relevant metadata, tailored content streams, contextually relevant advertising, and integrated commerce” to create commercial opportunities through sponsorships, merchandising, and premium access.

The shift from passive to active viewing represents a fundamental change in audience engagement.

“Immersive formats shift audiences from passive viewing to active participation, whether through choice-driven storytelling, live interaction, or competition-inspired events,” said Francesca Pezzoli, vice president of marketing at Looper Insights. “The commercial opportunity lies in turning that deeper connection into stronger ecosystems and more durable revenue streams.”

For sports broadcasting specifically, immersive technology offers new ways to enhance the viewing experience.

“Whether that’s a news or sports broadcaster using interactive overlays, real-time stats, and alternative camera angles to engage the audience with better storytelling,” said Paddy Taylor, head of broadcast at MRMC, content creators can “offer bespoke branded content, and scalable production for social and broadcast platforms.”

Real-time data drives audience interaction

Several companies are focusing on data-driven approaches to immersive content.

“Our vision at Emergent is that immersive content needs to interact with the audience to increase engagement,” said David Jorba, chief business and strategy officer at Emergent. “This interaction should be driven by audience-specific and environmental real-time data that changes with the event’s pulse.”

Audio plays a crucial role in creating immersive experiences, particularly in sports broadcasting.

“We are already seeing this in genres like sports where techniques are being implemented such as microphone placement in crowds, on players’ helmets and in goals so viewers at home can get a more realistic in-stadium experience,” said Sid Stanley, managing director at Calrec.

Balancing innovation with accessibility

Industry professionals acknowledge that technological innovation must be paired with practical accessibility to achieve widespread adoption.

“Innovation only matters if it’s accessible,” said Bob Caniglia, director of sales operations for the Americas at Blackmagic Design. “Our goal is for the most powerful immersive storytelling tools to be just as approachable for a small creative team as they are for a large facility, and to make tools that integrate seamlessly into existing workflows without requiring steep learning curves or costly overhauls.”

This accessibility challenge extends to deployment and viewing experiences.

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“It is essential that as an industry we strive to lower access barriers which allows teams to make immersive formats easy to deploy, view and interact with, without specialized hardware,” said Roberto Musso, technical director at NDI. The company’s technology currently supports virtual chess tournaments and remote camera workflows for esports events over standard networks.

Addressing generational viewing differences

The push toward immersive content is partly driven by changing audience demographics and viewing habits.

“Younger audiences tend to graze content and have very different viewing habits to traditional consumers; this is why one of the biggest challenges for broadcasters is engaging Gen-Z who are looking for relatable, short-form content,” said Stanley.

“Immersive and engaging storytelling is key to achieving this, and broadcasters, rights owners, and vendors must work together to find innovative ways to blend video, data and audio to provide accessible content that is beyond compelling,” he added.

Behind the scenes, improvements in production technology are making immersive content more feasible for a broader range of creators.

“Advances in virtual production and robotics now allow broadcasters and creators to generate high-quality, interactive visuals within compact, efficient setups, making immersive storytelling more accessible,” said Taylor.

The industry approach emphasizes gradual adoption rather than wholesale technology overhauls.

“Balancing innovation and adoption also means giving creators the opportunity to start small, scale up, and experiment with immersive formats at their own pace,” said Caniglia. “The key is removing barriers, so storytellers can focus on engaging audiences rather than wrestling with technology.”

As IBC 2025 approaches, the focus on immersive and interactive experiences reflects the industry’s ongoing efforts to adapt to changing audience expectations while building sustainable business models around new content formats. The event will provide a platform for vendors to demonstrate how these technologies can be implemented across different production scales and budgets.

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