Ed Barton

As the industry prepares for IBC 2026 in Amsterdam, media tech vendors face a complex and rapidly changing landscape. Under pressure from a consolidating market and shifting buyer priorities, navigating the show floor requires a clear understanding of what customers truly value. Based on our latest analysis, here is what vendors need to know to succeed in this challenging environment. The overarching trend shaping the industry is consolidation, which is a natural response to declining markets.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 in Barcelona confirmed a crucial shift from the "buzz" surrounding generative AI to its practical, deep integration across telecommunications infrastructure. The primary focus of the event was Agentic AI and the acceleration towards AI-Native 6G networks, promising to fundamentally transform the industry's operational technology. Our team attended MWC, sharing some of the key trends and insights that emerged from the event.

The media industry is undergoing a significant transformation in how infrastructure is bought and used, probably the biggest that will happen in the lifetime of anyone reading this. For years, broadcasters and other organisations producing TV shows relied on proprietary hardware for their studio, control room and OB van infrastructure. This hardware was often dedicated to a single use case—multiviewer, converter, colour corrector—with embedded software and a perpetual licence.