Artificial Intelligence is no longer future technology for the media and entertainment industry — it’s a live force reshaping media production and viewer experiences today. Alongside measured and focused exploration of AI as a creative enabler, purpose-built AI solutions for media are making everyday content production and delivery processes faster, smarter, and more scalable for talented teams and creative powerhouses.
From streamlining repetitive production tasks to enabling faster post production workflows and ultra-personalised content experiences, AI is reshaping the economics and expectations of modern media. But as the pace of change accelerates and new models make today’s innovation obsolete tomorrow, so too does the need for hands-on collaboration, training, and grounded discussion on bringing the best out of AI technology. As the global destination for media technology and business transformation, we’re laser-focused on reflecting these themes and challenges at IBC2025 in September.
What’s working today in AI for media?
Specific AI-based solutions are helping deliver measurable gains across core media production and user experience workflows — from editing and subtitling tasks to content recommendations and customer support engines. According to GlobalData, AI spend in the media sector is expected to surpass $4 billion by 2028, with AI and GenAI tools already embedded within many VFX and post houses to speed up processes and automate tasks like speech-to-text transcription.
Meanwhile, Caretta Research’s AI in media and broadcast report highlights that buyers across the industry overwhelmingly favour AI applications that drive efficiency and reliability over blue-sky creativity. The research found that almost 70% of media technology buyers value AI for reducing repetitive manual work, while 63% cite its benefits in accelerating workflows. Common use cases include summarising content, video localisation, and clip generation — all of which are proving highly scalable and production-ready.
Analyst research and trade show discussion points to similar findings. The industry is increasingly confident about AI adoption — media companies are beginning to have a clear idea of where, and how, they want to use AI in future. At the same time, the media industry is no different to any other technology market — what media companies value most is cost predictability, ease of use, reliability and tangible return on investment. So, it’s down to the technology vendors, AI pioneers and software engineers to deliver — game on.
Real-world implementation requires talent push
Like any emerging technology, implementation of practical AI tools requires new skills and digital fluency. Skill gaps remain one of the most cited barriers to AI deployment, with 40% of media buyers pointing to a shortage of trained personnel as a key challenge, according to Caretta Research. There’s a growing consensus that future-ready organisations must invest in training, upskilling, and engineering talent that can bridge the divide between AI systems and real-world production environments.
Nurturing new talent and building a sustainable media workforce is undoubtedly one of our industry’s most important challenges. That’s why the IBC Talent Programme continues to provide a platform for discussion, action and opportunity, engaging and upskilling the next generation of AI-fluent media technology professionals. Industry organizations like SMPTE, Rise, Media and Entertainment Talent Manifesto, Gals N Gear, and Women in Streaming Media are delivering fantastic initiatives to open career pathways, mentoring, and practical sessions that support skills development for all young professionals across media and tech. For media companies and technology vendors: invest in the next generation, and commit to meaningful R&D and training initiatives — both are vital to powering our industry’s AI-ready future.
What media leaders want from AI
The world’s top media organizations are both innovative and pragmatic. They innovate with purpose and focus on clear business outcomes. Leaders want tools that solve practical problems — not future-gazing experiments. This poses new challenges and opportunities for the technology vendors that supply them, many of which are AI-focused startups or established brands developing new AI functions within existing solutions. At the same time, media companies are emphasising the need for greater vendor collaboration, with requests for suppliers to work better together to ensure interoperability across evolving systems and platforms.
Perhaps the most important theme emerging right now is the rise of agentic AI. Unlike traditional generative AI, agentic systems are designed to take autonomous actions — browsing content, interacting with environments, and executing complex user-defined tasks. Media leaders increasingly view agentic AI as a top strategic priority, particularly in areas like newsroom automation, live production assistance, and editorial support. This advanced form of AI is already being explored by top organizations like the BBC, ITN, and Google Cloud in a pioneering Accelerator project, AI Assistance Agents in Live Production, representing the next frontier for operational intelligence in live media environments.
Show me the innovation
I’ve led collaboration initiatives across the media and telecommunications industries for over twenty years. The depth of innovation we see today in media is second to none. Take the IBC Accelerator Media Innovation Programme, supported by tech trailblazers like Google Cloud, AMD-HP and Shure, for example — showcasing some of the most forward-looking collaborative AI deployments in the industry.
Along with groundbreaking work in agentic AI, Accelerator projects like A Framework for Generative AI, led by Rai, Yle and ITV, show how AI can support the full animation workflow — from script development and voiceover to post-production and synthetic audio. Elsewhere, Changing the Game Again, driven by Verizon Business, AMD, Xansr Media and Chyron, is building tools for predictive sports highlights, real-time commentary, and AI-personalised fan experiences, using advanced GenAI models and data integration. For readers heading to IBC2025, all projects will be showcased in the Future Tech area in Hall 14, alongside immersive demonstrations like the Google AI Penalty Challenge, which fuses AI and sport in an interactive football experience using over 15 integrated technologies. Bringing talent theory into action, we’re also expecting the IBC Hackfest x Google Cloud to spark new discussion and advances in AI skills in media: a high-intensity, two-day hackathon with digital innovators, tech entrepreneurs, software developers, creatives and engineers tackling real M&E challenges using Gemini AI and more.
Whether it’s real-time production assistants, predictive AI for sports, or hands-on training events, these types of collaborations show that the future of AI in media is grounded in solving real problems and improving standards for creatives and viewers — not just chasing trends. We’re seeing surging interest among the AI community to participate in, and reshape, the future of media with real-world problem solvers. AI in media is here, it’s evolving fast, and it will drive countless show floor discussions at IBC2025.
