AMSTERDAM — Walking through IBC2026, one change was easy to notice: More media technology is becoming physically less visible. As broadcast infrastructure shifts into software, browsers and the cloud, a screen can now demonstrate workflows that once filled racks of dedicated equipment. That leaves less hardware on the stand, even when the system behind the demo is more capable.
Held Sept. 11-14, IBC2026 drew 41,225 attendees, down from 43,858 in 2025. More than 1,300 exhibitors attended; 256 were first-time exhibitors, up 36% from last year. IBC’s own framing pointed to a related shift, from showcasing emerging technologies to practical deployment. Future Tech debuted in 2025 with demonstrations of generative and agentic AI, immersive media and cloud-native workflows. This year, IBC framed the show around “turning innovation into action.” Nine IBC Accelerator projects addressed real-world problems through proof-of-concept work intended to shorten the path from experimentation to deployment.
IBC’s superpower is the power to convene our industry
Mike Crimp, IBC’s chief executive
“IBC’s superpower is the power to convene our industry,” said Mike Crimp, IBC’s chief executive. He said the event brings together different parts of the industry to demonstrate how innovation can “solve practical challenges.” Networking extended beyond RAI Amsterdam, with Nautel hosting industry guests on one canal cruise and RedTech and RCS jointly hosting another.
For radio, visibility meant something else. IBC2026 exposed a clear asymmetry: Producing and repurposing audio is becoming easier, while keeping a station visible, identifiable and easy to reach is becoming more complicated. Listeners now choose among podcasts, streaming services and a growing supply of other radio-like audio.
AI can generate scripts, synthesize and adapt voices, translate and localize material, repurpose content for several outlets and automate workflows that used to absorb substantial production time. Across the show, those capabilities appeared in tools intended for day-to-day production.
This is the basis of radio’s potential AI dividend: More time and production capacity for higher-value work. These gains may reduce costs, but they can also create more room for editorial review, verification, original content, local knowledge and audience engagement.
Trust and accountability
IBC’s discussion of AI also addressed what wider use means for trust and accountability. Muki Kulhan, IBC innovation co-lead, said that “transparency, provenance, authenticity, fact-checking and editorial accountability” are becoming more important as AI-generated media becomes more widespread. She added, “Appropriate human oversight remains essential to preserving the editorial judgment, trusted voices and authenticity that audience relationships depend on.”
Distribution presents a different problem. On apps, aggregators, smart speakers and connected-car dashboards, stations appear alongside an ever-growing range of audio sources. Many competing IP-native services were built from the start around rich metadata, artwork, personalization and interactive interfaces. Radio is still working toward comparable visibility across all those platforms. Kulhan noted that “audiences increasingly discover and consume content through connected devices and digital interfaces,” making metadata, hybrid broadcast/IP services and AI-enabled discovery more important.
Getting a signal or stream to the listener is no longer the whole job. Metadata, apps, automotive presence, voice interfaces and platform relationships all affect how a station is found and presented. Industry cooperation matters too, especially where a single broadcaster cannot set the rules of a third-party platform. Seen together, the production and distribution trends point to the same conclusion: What is scarce is changing.
For decades, expanding production and distribution capacity required more dedicated equipment, more space and larger specialist teams. Capacity took time and capital to build. Technology can now produce more audio, in more versions and for more platforms, while a growing share of the infrastructure can be virtualized or moved into the cloud.
A station’s editorial identity does not scale in the same way. Trust, local relevance, recognizable personalities and a relationship with listeners take time to build. In connected environments, those qualities must also remain visible and discoverable.
Lower costs are one possible outcome of the AI dividend. Another is more time for the work that is hardest to automate or copy. That could allow broadcasters to do more without necessarily spending more. One clear takeaway from IBC2026 is this: The easier it becomes to create radio-like audio, the more important it becomes for radio to make clear what makes it radio.
The author holds a Master of Science in Engineering and previously worked for Telecom Italia and Italian public broadcaster Rai. Based in Bergamo, Italy, he now advises radio stations and equipment manufacturers on project management, network design and field measurement.
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