LONDON—The IBC today previewed its upcoming show, returning to the RAI in Amsterdam for in-person exhibits and conferences—the first time since 2019.
The show, Sept. 9-12, is one day shorter than in the past, but organizers are confident that worldwide attendance will match expectations and that the trends that have positively impacted recent industry events such as the NAB Show, Infocomm and ISC, will continue and even accelerate.
'Crazy Amount of Demand' from Exhibitors
The number of exhibitors is now up to 850 but organizers think it could potentially reach 1,000 by showtime. “We’ve seen a crazy amount of demand over the last six months,” IBC Director Steve Connolly noted. “We’ve surpassed our initial expectations and are thrilled with the levels of enthusiasm and engagement among exhibitors and visitors for this year’s show.”
However, attendance figures are more difficult to estimate, he said.
“In terms of in-person attendance, it’s harder to predict, especially when you look at other trade shows at the beginning of the year and how much of their final registration comes through in the last three weeks,” he said. “However, to give you some kind of guideline and mathematical formula, when we had 55,000 square meters of space, we had 53,000 visitors. I would expect our final square meters [of exhibit space] to be around about 35-36,000 square meters, so following that trend, you can expect some numbers around that.”
The show already has seen the return of one major exhibitor that had originally announced that it would not exhibit at live shows in 2022—Avid announced last week that it would exhibit at this year’s show, after assessing the recent success of in-person shows.
Regarding Covid protections, IBC will follow current EU Covid protocols, which are minimal at this point. Unlike the rules leading up to the 2021 show, which was eventually cancelled, a Covid entry pass is no longer required and social distancing and masks are no longer compulsory.
However IBC President Michael Crimp cautioned that IBC will monitor safety protocols and will change them if needed. “If medical advice is to do differently, we will introduce them so you can imagine we've got a ‘Plan B’ and ‘Plan C’ in place,” he said.
'Designing the Future Together'
In terms of the agenda, the show will focus on the current and future trends that have emerged since the 2019 show—many of which were accelerated by pandemic.
“IBC’s exciting slate of speakers, new partnerships and rich content program for 2022 exemplify our ongoing commitment to driving innovation and commercial opportunities for our industry,” said Michael Crimp, IBC’s Chief Executive Officer. “After nearly three years without a physical IBC Show, we couldn’t be more excited to bring together the media and entertainment community face-to-face in Amsterdam to drive new innovations and unlock critical business opportunities.”
The conference itself, which takes place Sept. 9-10, brings together some of the industry’s most influential thought leaders to present keynotes, panel discussions and IBC Technical Papers, is centered on the theme ‘What’s next? Designing the future together,’ according to the IBC. The conference will explore core trends and technologies shaping the future of media, including metaverse, data-driven ad strategies, hybrid business models and cloud migration. Confirmed headline speakers include:
- Eddie Drake, Head of Technology at Marvel Studios
- Anthony Guarino, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Technical Operations at Paramount Global
- Renard Jenkins, Senior Vice President, Production Integration and Creative Technology Services at Warner Bros. Discovery
- Michael Wise, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Universal Pictures
- Lewis Smithingham, SVP of Innovation at Media Monks
- Raymundo Barros, CTO at Globo
- Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer at ZEE5 Global
New this year is the free “IBC Changemaker sessions,” hosted by IBC’s Partners’ Programme, which which bring together industry trailblazers such as RISE, Albert, MovieLabs, HBS, Soho Media Club to explore topics such as raising equality, advancing sustainability and mental health awareness—as well as the latest thinking in creativity and technology.
Also featured at the 2022 show is IBC’s Partnership Pavilion and free-to-attend IBC Owner sessions, which will enable attendees to engage with and gain insights from the six leading international bodies behind IBC: IABM, IEEE BTS, IET, RTS, SCTE, and SMPTE. Other free-to-attend sessions include panel discussions, product demonstrations and case studies presented on the Content Everywhere Stage in its new purpose-built home in the expanded Hall 5. A four-day program will cover: live streaming and VOD; achieving low latency; content discovery and recommendations; audience engagement; monetization models and ad tech; software development strategies; and device fragmentation.
Adding to the broad and diverse range of content is IBC’s new Showcase Theatre in Hall 12, which will feature live demos, masterclasses and thought-leadership insights on key trends and opportunities from leading technology providers such as Accenture, Amazon Web Services (AWS), EVS and Zixi. The Innovation Stage in Hall 2 will feature thought leadership speakers and other sessions.
In addition to the aforementioned Avid, other leading brands exhibiting include ARRI, AWS, Blackmagic Design, Canon, EVS, Fraunhofer, Grass Valley, Hewlett Packard, MediaKind, Meta, Nagra, Ross Video, Sony, Synamedia, and many more. Companies planning their IBC debut this year include Ad Insertion Platform, Blitz micro, Ceeblue, Castify.ai, Castr Live Streaming, Green Streams, PikoTV, LiveAPI, Riverside.fm, and XroadMedia.
The IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme returns to Amsterdam in 2022, bringing together pioneering media companies and leading edge technology partners as they collaborate to solve real-world challenges and drive advances across a range of areas. This year’s Accelerator projects, presented on the Innovation Stage, are:
- ‘Cloud-based Live Events, Analytics and Low Latency Protocols’
- ‘Unified Cloud Architecture to Streamline the Localisation Process’
- ‘Next Generation News Studio’
- ‘5G and the Arena of the Future for XR Events’
- ‘5G Remote Production…in the Middle of Nowhere’
- ‘6DOF Audio-led Narrative and Music Experiences in the Metaverse’
- ‘Volumetric Video for Broadcasting, Metaverse Production and RT3D Assets’
- ‘Media Content Sharing, Monetization and Micropayment Systems via Blockchain’
Muki Kulhan, Innovation Co-Lead at IBC, commented: “Innovation is at the core of IBC’s mission. The IBC Accelerator program fosters a fast-track collaborative approach, bringing technology leaders together to create innovative solutions much more quickly than organizations would be able to do on their own. This year’s Accelerators harness truly game-changing technologies and creative expertise to solve common pain points and break new frontiers in media and entertainment.“
Accelerator Champions include: Barco Digital Cinema, BBC, BT Media & Broadcast, BT Sport, Connected Ideas Limited, ESL/Weavr, FOX Sports, HADO, Hochschule Luzern, ITV, King’s College London, Olympic Broadcasting Services, Paramount, Production Park, RTÈ, Scotland 5G Centre, TV2, Trinity College Dublin, Unity Technologies, University of Strathclyde, Unreal Engine/Epic Games, Vodafone, Warner Bros Discovery, DAZN and more.
Participating technology vendors include: Eluv.io, Fabric, Magic Beans, Net Insight, Tata Elxsi, TuneURL, Vidispine, Volograms, White Light, Zixi and many more to be announced.
For the second year running, IBC will also feature the IBC Accelerator Project of the Year Award 2022, voted by an independent jury of media and innovation peers, with the award announced after IBC showcases have taken place.
To register for the show, visit show.ibc.org/
