IBC 2025 Preview: Economic pressures drive operational transformation

As the global media industry prepares to converge in Amsterdam for IBC 2025, economic headwinds are reshaping how broadcasters and content creators approach their operations.

The September 12-15 event, which brings together tens of thousands of professionals from over 170 countries, will showcase an industry grappling with rising costs, shifting audience behaviors and the urgent need for operational efficiency.

The current economic landscape has forced media companies to fundamentally rethink their strategies, moving beyond traditional models toward more agile, cost-effective approaches that can deliver measurable returns within months rather than years.

Cost pressures accelerate transformation

Global economic pressures are intensifying demands for operational efficiency across the media landscape. Content licensing costs continue to rise while traditional revenue streams face increasing pressure, creating a perfect storm that is forcing rapid adaptation.

“Global economic pressures are intensifying the need to ‘do more with less,’ pushing media organisations to streamline operations and maximise existing resources,” said Aaron Kroger, director of product marketing and communications at Dalet. “This pressure is accelerating the demand for faster ROI, with new investments expected to deliver measurable returns within months rather than years.”

The impact is particularly pronounced in sports broadcasting, where licensing costs are reaching unprecedented levels.

“Especially in sports, content licensing costs are skyrocketing as we speak, forcing broadcasters to cut down on manpower and other expenses while still delivering unique storytelling,” said Chris Scheck, head of marketing content at Lawo.

To combat the cost pressures, vendors are adapting their business models to address constraints. For example,  traditional procurement approaches give way to more flexible licensing and deployment models.

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“Content licensing and production costs have continued to increase, applying tremendous pressure to control costs in the operations and technology stack and slowing decision cycles on technology investments,” said Narayanan Rajan, CEO of Media Excel. “Vendors that are prepared to meet customers head-on commercially, addressing budget constraints, simplifying multi-cloud and IP-native workflows, and solving day-to-day operational headaches, will be best positioned to thrive in this new climate.”

Lawo is addressing these concerns through flexible licensing systems.

“On the production side, a flexible licensing system that allows operators to select from a vast pool of processing apps at different times of the day, for a set budget, leads to a more cost-effective and agile infrastructure and a higher ROI,” Scheck explained.

Media supply chain complexity drives cost concerns

The complexity of modern content distribution is contributing to rising operational costs without corresponding revenue increases. Multiple platform requirements have created fragmented workflows that many companies have yet to address systematically.

“The processes to distribute content to multiple platforms such as Linear, FAST, VoD and Streaming, have become silo’d and overly complex,” said Graham Sharp, VP sales and marketing at BCNEXXT. “This in turn has also increased the complexity of the supply chain, increasing costs, without an associated return in revenue.”

Supply chain challenges extend beyond content distribution to manufacturing and hardware availability.

“There’s no question that global economic pressures are affecting the industry as a whole, particularly from the standpoint of creating uncertainty about supply chains and product availability,” said John Henkel, product marketing director at Netgear AV.

Hybrid approaches emerge as cost control measure

The push for cost optimization is driving renewed interest in hybrid infrastructure approaches that balance cloud benefits with on-premises cost control. While cloud adoption continues, economic pressures are forcing more strategic deployment decisions.

“The cloud is still popular and beneficial for its elasticity but there is a strong push for hybrid to help reduce and stabilize the costs,” Kroger noted.

This hybrid approach extends to content strategy as well. Rising subscription costs are forcing streaming platforms to diversify revenue models.

“Rising economic pressures curb consumers’ willingness to pay full subscription prices,” said Einat Kahana, vice president of product solutions at Viaccess-Orca. “As a result, streaming platforms are increasingly adopting hybrid or ad supported tiers to sustain and diversify revenue.”

Archive monetization gains priority as FAST rises

Economic constraints are pushing content owners to extract maximum value from existing libraries. Archive content is receiving renewed attention as companies seek revenue opportunities without additional production costs.

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“Economic pressure is forcing rights owners to sweat their libraries harder, finding every last ounce of value in dormant content,” said Symon Roue, managing director at VIDA.

“That’s why you’re seeing so much focus on repurposing archives for FAST, YouTube, and emerging platforms,” said Roue.

This shift toward archive monetization reflects a broader industry reality where efficiency and resource optimization are becoming competitive advantages.

“The winners won’t necessarily be those who spend the most on production, but those who can move the fastest, package the smartest, and distribute the widest, with the lowest operational drag,” Roue added.

Geographic production redistribution

Economic pressures are accelerating an existing trend toward geographically distributed production, driven by tax incentives, labor costs, and infrastructure availability. This redistribution is creating new patterns in how and where content is created.

“There is an ongoing redistribution of production labour by studios and streamers,” said Chris Evans, head of knowledge and insight at IABM. “This has been led by tax incentives offered by countries with the intention of attracting international co-productions, but as global economic pressures have heightened in recent years the decision of where to base a production has become even more important.”

The shift is measurable through content movement patterns.

“File transfer patterns tell the story. While Los Angeles and other traditional hubs remain central, more production and post work is happening in regions around the world,” said Taylor Riese, vice president strategic sales EMEA at Signiant.

Industry restructuring imperative

Many industry observers believe the current economic pressures require more dramatic restructuring than has yet occurred.

The traditional broadcast business model faces fundamental challenges that incremental changes may not address.

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“It seems that the industry is yet to take the dramatic restructuring required to make it profitable and healthy again,” Sharp noted. “I believe that many Broadcasters and Content Owners are yet to take the necessary steps to re-engineer their workflows and reduce costs in line with the new reality.”

As the industry gathers in Amsterdam, conversations will likely focus on practical strategies for navigating economic uncertainty while maintaining content quality and audience engagement. The tension between cost control and innovation will be a central theme.

“The conversations the industry needs to prioritise is how to cost-effectively unlock efficient, agile and sustainable workflows whilst delivering premium content at scale,” said Sid Stanley, managing director at Calrec.

The International Broadcasting Convention provides a crucial forum for these discussions, offering face-to-face opportunities to explore collaborative solutions to shared challenges.

“IBC gives us the opportunity to listen, explore and to understand what our customers need to be successful; and the more we understand the better we are as a business,” Stanley added.