The House View: AI takes centre stage at IBC 2023 amid calls for media industry disruption

IBC 2023, one of the world’s leading trade shows for the media, entertainment, and technology industry, was held in Amsterdam from September 8-12. Some of the big recurring themes this year included the future of work in the media industry, the role of technology in promoting diversity and inclusion and the impact of climate change on the media industry.

The term disruption is never far away from the lips of exhibitors, delegates and speakers at any self-respecting tech conference. Evan Shapiro, self-proclaimed “Media Universe Cartographer”, addressing delegates in his day one keynote, did not disappoint. He called on the industry to rid themselves of privileged CEO’s focused on the next earnings call and shift to a diverse management focused on user-centric business models more akin to the approach of Amazon. Shapiro is quoted as saying, “you need to be able to ignore the short term and hook your wagon to a big moonshot”.

For anyone who has not attended the event in recent years, the scale is difficult to convey. As the doors closed earlier this week the organisers reported that there were more than 1,250 exhibitors, 325+ speakers and 43,065 attendees from 170 countries.

It will come as no surprise to learn that artificial intelligence (AI) was being thrown around by anyone and everyone on the stage and exhibition floor. It seems that no credible pitch or presentation can be delivered these days without mentioning the term. Ten years ago the big themes at IBC were very different and back then the floor was buzzing with talk of 4K and Ultra HD video, IPTV and cloud computing.

The growing influence of sport at IBC

Sport occupies an increasingly important role at the event as more and more stage time as well as exhibition space is devoted to sports content and technology themes. Around the exhibition floor you are never far away from a booth featuring sports content imagery, which is clearly the media industry’s “sexy sell”. 

Sport use cases dominated the shortlists for the three IBC innovation award categories suggesting that sports’ place as a content and technology innovation platform is very much accepted by the wider media industry. 

Sport use cases featured in three out of the five shortlisted companies in the content creation category (Fox Sports, Riot Games and Formula E), two out of four in the content distribution category (Cellcom Israel and TelevisaUnivision) and all four nominees in the content everywhere category (SportTV App, Sky Sports, KAN and TNT Sports).

The various stages also had more than their fair share of sports presentations. Amongst other sports rights owners represented on stage F1 showcased the F1 TV platform, Verizon spoke about their NFL coverage, Warner Bros. Discovery presented updates on their Paris Olympics broadcast plans, Formula E took the stage together with Tata Communications to talk video distribution and Liverpool FC talked about cloud storage and media asset management.

IBC has a history of showcasing esports going back to 2019 when they featured an esports tournament. However, IBC 2023 was the first edition to have a dedicated esports and gaming zone on the showfloor, as well as a full day of content on esports and gaming.

Sport: a natural playground for AI

One of the most exciting applications of AI which was evident at IBC is the creation of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) experiences in sports broadcasting. AI is increasingly being used to create more realistic and immersive VR and AR graphics and help rights owners and broadcasters to tell stories in new and innovative ways by creating interactive experiences that allow viewers to explore different perspectives of a game.

IBC also showcased other AI use cases in sport including its ability to improve the production of sports broadcasts. The automatic generation of highlight reels, personalised recommendations for viewers, and the generation of real-time statistics and analysis are not new use cases. However, we have undoubtedly witnessed great strides in the reliability and affordability of the technology to deliver them.

Let’s not forget streaming. Streaming remains a hugely important topic at IBC and the increasingly competitive streaming market was in full view on the exhibition floor. Broadcasters are offering more streaming options than ever before, and they are also experimenting with new ways to monetize their content.

IBC cements its place in the (sports) media industry calendar

IBC 2023 was as big and bold as ever and cemented its place in the calendar of content and technology professionals across the media industry. 

Is it a must-attend event for sports content and technology professionals? That depends on your perspective. However, given sport has much to learn from the wider media industry from a technology and content perspective, a well-planned trip to IBC including a tour of Amsterdam’s canals is, without doubt, time well spent. 

By David Fowler, MD Advisory, iSportConnect