The trends shaping broadcast and media production in 2026

The broadcast and media industry’s ongoing technical transformation is expected to reach several inflection points in 2026.

Economic pressures are forcing faster decisions on infrastructure investments. IP transitions that have been planned for years are moving to implementation. AI applications are shifting from experimentation to operational deployment.

Our annual outlook feature, including responses from nearly 70 leading broadcast technology vendors, identified where these changes are expected to accelerate or fundamentally shift. The themes reflect not just continuing trends, but areas where market conditions, technical maturity and business pressures are converging to force action.

The key trends for 2026 include:

• IP infrastructure reaches tipping point: Delayed implementations face pressure from aging equipment, C-band loss and cost structures favoring software-defined systems.
• AI focuses on operations over content: Deployment concentrates on metadata, workflow coordination and content analysis for automation and personalization.
• Content authenticity emerges as priority: AI-generated content creates verification challenges affecting trust, rights management and compliance.
• Cost control drives technology choices: Profitability pressures make total cost of ownership and return on investment primary decision factors.
• Cloud follows hybrid model: Deployments combine cloud scalability with on-premises cost control based on economic experience.
• Interoperability gains priority: Organizations select systems avoiding vendor lock-in and enabling component choice based on needs.
• Unified data becomes operational requirement: Consistent data across production, distribution and business systems enables automation and monetization.
• Consolidation drives cross-sector partnerships: Economic pressure creates ecosystems offering more comprehensive services than individual platforms.
• Skills gap widens between broadcast and IT: IP systems require network architecture and IT management knowledge that traditional broadcast engineers lack, with the transition happening faster than workforce skills evolve.
• Organizational barriers slow adoption: Legacy costs, skill gaps and resistance to change present greater obstacles than technology limitations.

IP-based infrastructure reaches a tipping point

The transition to IP-native workflows is expected to accelerate in 2026 as organizations that have delayed implementation face mounting pressure from aging equipment, distribution changes and cost structures that favor software-defined systems.

“The biggest opportunity in 2026 is the shift to truly hybrid live production, enabling linear IP video and software-based processing to seamlessly work together in a single unified workflow,” said Ian Wagdin, VP technology and innovation, of Appear.

The shift addresses several operational challenges.

Legacy systems require specialized hardware for each function, making modifications expensive and time-consuming. IP-based workflows allow the same infrastructure to handle multiple tasks through software configuration, reducing both capital expenditure and the physical footprint of facilities.

Richard Jonker, VP marketing and business development at Netgear, said that success in 2026 will favor “the broadcasters who stop romanticizing that their old infrastructure will move faster and spend wiser.”

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“Everyone talks about ‘innovation,’ but half the control rooms and studios are still running gear old enough to vote. The opportunity is surprisingly simple: replace the expensive, custom-designed boxes with IP-native, flexible, software-defined workflows that cost less and scale,” said Jonker.

LTN’s Khan on IP distribution infrastructure as FCC advances upper C-band reallocation

Most organizations are adopting hybrid architectures that connect legacy systems to IP cores, allowing gradual migration rather than complete replacement. However, external factors are accelerating timelines. The FCC’s reallocation of C-band spectrum has eliminated a distribution path that many broadcasters relied on for decades, forcing faster adoption of alternative methods.

“By year’s end, at least one major U.S. broadcaster will publicly designate IP as its primary distribution path – well ahead of industry expectations. This shift will be driven as much by the need for workflow simplification and cost control as by technology readiness. That decision will accelerate a broader acceptance that resilient, software-managed IP networks can support national-scale delivery,” predicted Alan Young, VP strategic business development, Zixi.

“As C-band distribution transitions, companies that have already mastered cloud and IP delivery will be in the driver’s seat. The industry’s next era will be defined by providers who can deliver the same reliability broadcasters expect while enabling a very different kind of scalability and personalization,” said Chris Pulis, CTO, Globecast.

The shift to terrestrial IP networks allows broadcasters to distribute higher-quality signals, including 1080p60 HDR feeds, which were not practical over satellite. However, it also requires new expertise in network management and introduces different cost structures.

AI applications focus on operations rather than content creation

“Automation will transform production from a fragmented toolset into an integrated environment where events are programmable, synchronised, and executed consistently through increasingly intuitive control interfaces. AI becomes a strategic assistant. It reduces cognitive overload, offers high-level options, and supports operators in critical moments,” said Sergio Brighel, EVP, robotics and prompting technology, Videndum.

Artificial intelligence deployment in broadcast is concentrating on operational efficiency rather than creative tasks. The technology is being used to manage metadata, analyze content characteristics and coordinate multi-system workflows.

The focus reflects practical needs. Broadcasters manage libraries containing thousands or millions of assets, each requiring detailed metadata for search, rights management and monetization. Manual metadata creation is expensive and often incomplete. AI systems can analyze video and audio to extract information about content, scenes, objects, dialogue and other characteristics.

“The biggest impact will come from AI coordinating steps across workflows, not from individual features,” said Matteo De Martinis, head of product, AI and media production, Dalet. “In 2025, organizations finally realized value because they could use AI directly in production rather than in isolated pilots. The next step is AI reducing integration burdens and simplifying multi-system processes.”

The coordination function is becoming more important as workflows span multiple systems and platforms. AI can track assets across production, post-production, distribution and archival systems, triggering appropriate actions at each stage without manual intervention.

“AI will not replace creativity but solve the metadata mess. It will become the connective tissue that links disparate systems, deriving greater value from current assets and driving greater value to consumers,” said Paul Pastor, chief business officer, Quickplay. 

“In 2026, metadata becomes the product layer, enabling discovery, personalisation, rights monetisation and automation,” added Lee Otterway, commercial director, Dot Group. “But it’s also your operational intelligence layer. Content without rich metadata isn’t just commercially disadvantaged; it’s operationally expensive and environmentally wasteful. Every time you can’t find an asset, can’t repurpose content efficiently, or run redundant processes, you’re paying twice – in cost and carbon.”

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The operational focus also addresses viewer expectations for personalization. Streaming platforms need detailed content understanding to make recommendations and create customized interfaces. AI-generated metadata provides this information at a scale that manual processes cannot match.

Content authenticity and AI verification emerge as priorities

The proliferation of AI-generated and AI-modified content is creating verification challenges that vendors identified as both an operational risk and a trust issue with audiences. The technical capability to create realistic synthetic video and audio has advanced faster than systems to verify authenticity.

“The missing guardrail is a simple ‘proof of authenticity’, a digital stamp that lets viewers know for sure that the news clip or sports highlights they are watching is genuine footage and not an AI fabrication,” said Einat Khana, VP product solutions, Viaccess-Orca. “As AI touches every part of the workflow, the biggest operational risk becomes verifying what is real.”

“The industry needs to work together to provide our own frameworks for content authenticity, provenance and clear understanding of the ethical (or otherwise) sourcing of training data,” said Richard Welsh, president, SMPTE. “I think guardrails set by the companies building AI are in of themselves a poor way to control or regulate AI. We regularly see artistic works from individual creatives and franchises being reproduced in astonishing detail. Even more concerning is the ease with which the “real world” can be fake in still images, video and audio.  The legal frameworks to properly protect against this are just not there.”

Standards organizations, including the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity and Content Authenticity Initiative, are developing technical specifications to provide digital verification of content origin. These systems create records that track content from capture through distribution, documenting modifications and confirming authenticity. However, implementation remains limited and requires adoption across production workflows and distribution platforms to function effectively.

The operational risk extends beyond audience trust. Organizations using AI throughout workflows need to verify which content is original footage, which has been modified and what modifications were made. This verification affects rights management, regulatory compliance and editorial decisions.

AI is also changing piracy detection and prevention. Advanced systems can identify fraudulent streams and unauthorized distribution faster than previous methods. However, the same technologies are being used by criminal organizations to circumvent protection systems.

The industry lacks comprehensive frameworks for several authentication challenges. Rights-restricted feeds require strict controls over how AI systems access and use content. Talent contracts need provisions for synthetic reproductions of performances. Legal protections against reproduction and manipulation of authentic content remain incomplete, with existing copyright frameworks not designed for synthetic media.

Organizations implementing AI systems need internal controls, including decision logs that document why AI systems took specific actions, human override capabilities, and clear data governance policies on what content can be used for AI training and how AI-generated material is labeled.

“The missing guardrails are the unsexy ones, including clear auditability, versioned decision logs, and strict boundaries on what agents are not allowed to do without humans in the loop. Without these controls, companies risk building black boxes they cannot debug when something inevitably goes sideways,” said Jonas Michaelis, CEO, Qibb.

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Cost reduction drives technology decisions

Financial pressures are reshaping technology investment across the industry. Streaming services have struggled to achieve profitability, forcing parent companies to reduce spending. Consolidation has eliminated redundant operations and reduced overall budgets. These conditions are making cost reduction a primary factor in technology decisions.

The economic reset facing broadcast and media tech spending in 2026

Organizations are evaluating projects based on the total cost of ownership rather than the initial purchase price.

Cloud-based systems may have lower upfront costs but can accumulate substantial operating expenses. Proprietary systems may require ongoing maintenance fees and limit flexibility. Open standards and modular architectures are gaining favor because they reduce long-term costs and avoid vendor lock-in.

Jonker said broadcasters are “investing in reliability and agility, not in proprietary lock-ins or baseless price increases for cloud workflows with unwanted AI features.”

The emphasis on efficiency is driving migration from expensive dedicated systems toward software running on standard IT infrastructure. This approach reduces hardware costs and allows organizations to scale resources based on actual demand rather than peak capacity.

Return on investment calculations now weigh heavily in equipment decisions. Projects must demonstrate clear operational savings or revenue generation to gain approval. This requirement is slowing some deployments but ensuring that adopted technologies deliver measurable value.

Cloud adoption follows hybrid model

Cloud-based workflows continue to develop, but deployment patterns are shifting toward hybrid architectures that combine cloud and on-premises resources. The change reflects experience with cloud economics and operational requirements.

Public cloud services offer scalability and reduce the need for capital investment in infrastructure. However, costs can be unpredictable, particularly for bandwidth-intensive video workflows. Organizations processing large volumes of content have found that cloud costs can exceed the expense of owned infrastructure.

“The fully cloud-only broadcast workflow – sold as a cure-all – has been a bit oversold in my view, and 2026 will see a more balanced perspective as organizations migrate off the traditional public clouds that till now have been dominant,” said Mark Donnigan, head of strategic marketing, NETINT.

Hybrid models allow organizations to use cloud resources for tasks that benefit from scalability, such as encoding across different formats for various platforms, while maintaining consistent workloads on on-premises infrastructure. This approach provides cost predictability while maintaining flexibility for variable demand.

The SRT protocol has enabled more live production workflows to use cloud infrastructure. The protocol maintains video quality over standard internet connections, making it practical to route live feeds through cloud processing without dedicated circuits. This capability allows remote production and distributed workflows that were not previously feasible.

Interoperability and open standards gain priority

Organizations are prioritizing open standards and modular architectures that allow components from different manufacturers to work together. The shift addresses problems with proprietary systems that limit flexibility, make it difficult to add new capabilities and can result in expensive upgrade cycles.

Understanding the Media Exchange Layer: A shift in how broadcast software connects

Open standards such as SMPTE ST 2110 for IP video, Media eXchange Layer for workflow orchestration and Dynamic Media Facility for cloud-native production allow different systems to exchange information and coordinate operations. This interoperability lets organizations select components based on specific needs rather than compatibility requirements.

“The emergence of interoperable workflows enabled by the Media eXchange Layer… we are seeing a seismic shift in software-defined sports acquisition and contribution at an unprecedented pace,” said Wagdin.

“By the end of 2026, major broadcasters will point to fully realized Dynamic Media Facilities, not as conceptual architectures, but as measurable business engines. I believe we’ll be able to quantify exactly how much cost was avoided and how much new revenue was captured by using DMF-aligned, microservices-driven infrastructures to produce far more events at broadcast quality,” said Francesco Scartozzi, VP sales and business development, Matrox Video.

The standards also support software-defined workflows where functions are implemented as applications rather than dedicated hardware. This approach allows organizations to update capabilities through software changes and to run multiple functions on shared infrastructure.

“With MXL, ultra-low-latency, high-throughput IP transport across distributed production environments is possible. Leveraging MXL has the potential to allow broadcasters to bypass CPU bottlenecks, minimize latency, and efficiently handle UHD and HDR signals across multiple trucks or remote teams,” said Rick Seegull, SVP technology and business development, Riedel Communications. “What’s especially underestimated is how transformative this will be for cloud-based workflows. Because MXL enables multiple vendors, services, and applications to operate within the same compute environment, sharing memory directly rather than managing packets, it streamlines cloud productions, particularly in public cloud environments. This means less overhead, lower cost, and far more predictable performance when mixing tools from different manufacturers.”

Interoperability is particularly important for organizations operating across multiple facilities or coordinating with partners. Standardized interfaces reduce integration costs and enable workflows that span different organizations’ systems.

Unified data visibility becomes an operational requirement

Access to consistent data across the media supply chain is emerging as a requirement for automation, personalization and monetization efforts. Organizations need visibility into content characteristics, production status, distribution performance and business outcomes to operate efficiently.

“The biggest impact of AI in 2026 will be the rise of an intelligent organizational layer, which is essentially a brain for your company. It will unify project management, design, CRM, collaboration, and data systems through orchestrated AI, ending siloed tools and fragmented workflows,” said Blaine Brown, VP innovation and intelligent spaces, Diversified.

Current systems often isolate data in separate platforms. Production systems track technical metadata. Distribution platforms monitor viewing behavior. Business systems manage rights and financial information. This separation makes it difficult to understand relationships between creative decisions, technical quality, audience response and business results.

“The defining opportunity for 2026 is achieving unified data visibility across the media supply chain, which enables companies to understand and act on all the information behind content creation, distribution and monetization,” said Hannah Barnhardt, COO,TMT Insights.

Unified data enables several capabilities.

Organizations can track assets from initial production through distribution and archival without manual handoffs. They can analyze which content characteristics correlate with viewer engagement. They can automate rights management by connecting content metadata to contractual terms. They can optimize distribution by understanding technical quality requirements for different platforms.

The requirement for data visibility is driving integration between systems that previously operated independently. APIs and data exchange standards allow different platforms to share information while maintaining specialized functions. This integration supports automation that was not possible when systems could not communicate.

Consolidation leads to cross-sector partnerships

Industry consolidation is expected to continue, with emphasis on partnerships between traditional broadcasters, streaming services and technology companies. The partnerships reflect recognition that no single organization can provide the full range of capabilities that viewers expect.

Consolidation is driven by economic pressure.

“We’re going to see the competitive landscape blur as consolidation and partnerships accelerate. Broadcasters and streamers will increasingly cross ‘frenemy’ lines to share content and technology… The result will be a few big interconnected ecosystems rather than siloed sectors, forcing everyone to either band together or risk getting left behind,” said Donnigan.

Streaming services require substantial content libraries and technology platforms to compete effectively. Most individual services have struggled to achieve profitability. Mergers and partnerships allow companies to share costs and combine content libraries.

However, the more significant development is cross-sector collaboration. Traditional competitors are partnering to share technology, content and distribution. These arrangements create larger ecosystems that can offer more comprehensive services than individual platforms.

“The competitive landscape will gradually shift away from individual services and toward more integrated discovery, viewing, interaction and commercial functions,” said Krzysztof Bartkowski, CEO, streaming and cloud media, Big Blue Marble.

“Consolidation will push the industry toward a smaller number of common standards, and partnerships will decide which of those actually win. We’re already seeing competitors sitting at the same table to align on how IP connectivity should work so that the entire industry can grow together,” said Miguel Coutinho, head of NDI.

The partnerships affect competitive dynamics. Success depends less on individual content libraries and more on platform capabilities for discovery, personalization and user experience. Organizations that can orchestrate multiple content sources and provide unified interfaces gain advantages over standalone services.

The arrangements also affect technology decisions. Partners need compatible systems and shared standards to integrate services effectively. This requirement is accelerating adoption of open standards and interoperable platforms.

Skills gap widens between broadcast and IT expertise

The technical transition is creating workforce challenges as traditional broadcast engineering roles require IT networking knowledge. The skills required to operate IP-based systems differ substantially from those needed for baseband equipment.

Traditional broadcast engineers understand video signal flow, synchronization, color science and equipment operation. They work with dedicated hardware and fixed signal paths. IP-based systems require knowledge of network architecture, software configuration, cybersecurity and IT system management. The transition is happening faster than workforce skills are evolving.

“The skills crisis. Everyone’s planning IP infrastructure upgrades but seriously underestimating how quickly the gap between traditional broadcast engineers and IT-based systems is becoming unbridgeable,” said Russell Johnson, director, Hitomi Broadcast.

The problem affects both implementation and ongoing operation. Organizations installing IP systems need staff who can configure networks, troubleshoot software issues and integrate multiple platforms. Once systems are operational, they require different maintenance approaches than hardware-based facilities.

The skills gap also affects technology decisions. Organizations without IT expertise may delay transitions or select systems that require less specialized knowledge. This constraint can limit the benefits of new technologies and extend reliance on legacy systems.

Training programs are adapting to address the gap, but the pace of technical change makes it difficult for education to keep current. Organizations are hiring from IT sectors and retraining broadcast staff, but the transition is creating operational challenges.

Organizational change management becomes critical

Technical upgrades require organizational adaptation that many companies are not adequately preparing for. New technologies change workflows, decision-making processes and organizational structures. Without corresponding changes in how organizations operate, technical capabilities cannot deliver their potential value.

Software-defined workflows allow faster iteration and more flexible operations than hardware-based systems. However, they require different decision-making processes. Organizations accustomed to lengthy planning cycles and infrequent changes must adapt to continuous modification and optimization.

“The pace of change outside the industry is accelerating every day, and falling behind is easier than ever if organizations aren’t able to adapt quickly,” said De Martinis.

The changes also affect roles and responsibilities. Automation eliminates some tasks while creating needs for new skills. Departments that previously operated independently must coordinate more closely. These shifts can encounter resistance from staff comfortable with established practices.

Successful technology transitions require attention to organizational factors alongside technical implementation. Companies need to communicate reasons for changes, provide training, adjust incentive structures and address concerns from affected staff. Organizations that focus only on technical aspects often fail to realize expected benefits.

The change management challenge is particularly acute in established broadcast organizations with long-standing operational practices. These companies have institutional knowledge and established workflows that may not transfer directly to new technical environments. Balancing preservation of valuable practices with necessary adaptation is a continuing challenge. 

Onwards to 2026

“The defining challenge for 2026 will be divorce. While media conglomerates pursue expensive mergers, broadcasters face ongoing platform fragmentation that began nearly 20 years ago with the smartphone. Linear broadcast’s last strongholds (sport, news, live events) are crumbling as streamers buy up sport and live events while news goes direct to devices. The opportunity? Embrace new platforms and monetize archived media the way streamers have done,” said Andrew Ward, business development manager, Cinegy.

“Profitability and business sustainability remain the defining challenges for the industry. The decline in advertising revenue and competition from entities outside the industry for eyeballs and ears is making it difficult to survive. The greatest opportunity for the industry is reinvention through technology and good storytelling as well as authentic investment in understanding content engagement,” said Renard Jenkins, past president, SMPTE.

“The economic incentives to scale content risk pushing the market toward quantity, not originality. Broadcasters will discover that protecting human creativity is not sentimental; it is strategic. Without authentic creation, competitive differences vanish,” said Brighel.