The world's reference event for broadcast, media and technology, gathering around 45,000 professionals at the RAI Amsterdam each September, with sport and live at the heart of the programme.
IBC, the International Broadcasting Convention, is the leading annual event for the broadcast, media and entertainment technology industry. Held at the RAI Amsterdam, the 2026 edition runs from 11 to 14 September and is expected to draw around 45,000 visitors from more than 170 countries, alongside roughly 1,300 exhibitors and a conference of several hundred speakers. IBC combines a vast exhibition floor with a curated conference, and although it covers the whole media technology landscape, sport and live production sit at the centre of its programming. It is the European counterpart of the NAB Show in Las Vegas, and the single most important date for technology watch and supplier mapping in the broadcast year.
IBC was founded in 1967, the year the first colour television broadcasts reached Europe, including the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon. Its three founders, John Tucker of EMI, Tom Mayer of Marconi and John Etheridge of The Rank Organisation, wanted more than a commercial exhibition: they set out to build a meeting point for the engineering and creative sides of the industry. Nearly six decades on, IBC is owned by a partnership of industry bodies and has grown into the global reference convention for media technology, while keeping the conference and the exhibition deliberately intertwined.
IBC draws the full broadcast and media value chain. On the buyer side it gathers the technical leadership of the world's broadcasters and platforms, with CTO roundtables that in recent years have included Warner Bros Discovery, ITV, Paramount and Disney, and a deep pool of engineering and operations profiles from organisations such as Red Bee Media, the BBC, France Televisions and the major host broadcasters. On the supply side it assembles around 1,300 exhibitors, from camera, audio and graphics manufacturers to cloud, IP, AI and connectivity vendors. More than half of visitors describe themselves as decision-makers with responsibility for strategy, purchasing or partnerships.
The 2026 conference is organised around three themes: shifting business models, transformative technology, and people and purpose. Artificial intelligence runs through the whole programme, with sessions such as Disrupt, Innovate, Create: How to Embrace AI. Sport has its own thread, with a session billed as the new playbook for sport covering AI, data, fan engagement and rights, and case studies drawn from the FIFA World Cup and the Winter Olympics. Content authenticity, security and provenance form a third strand, reflecting industry concern over synthetic media. An expanded Future Tech programme and the long-running technical papers track give the convention an applied, engineering-led spine.
IBC runs over four days and splits into a large multi-hall exhibition at the RAI and a paid conference. Around the two core elements sit a set of feature programmes: accelerators that pair media companies with technology partners on real innovation challenges, the Future Tech and content programmes, technical paper sessions, and showcase and demonstration zones. The scale is industrial: the exhibition is measured in halls rather than stands, and a full visit is planned in advance around specific suppliers and sessions rather than browsed.
IBC anchors the European broadcast autumn. It follows immediately after the SVG Europe Summit, which is deliberately scheduled on its eve, and it balances the NAB Show in Las Vegas in April to give the industry two global reference points six months apart. For a sport technology vertical, IBC is less a sport-only target than a technology-watch and vendor-mapping exercise, but its sport and live strand is central to the programme and its floor is where most production technology decisions are informed.
IBC is the international version of the profiles the vertical tracks. It is where the technical directors of broadcasters and the suppliers that serve them converge at the largest scale, where the year's production technology is unveiled, and where the sport-specific sessions translate broad media trends into live-sport practice. Mapping IBC means mapping most of the broadcast supply side of the vertical in one place.
| Founded | 1967 |
| Visitors | ~45,000 from 170+ countries |
| Exhibitors | ~1,300 |
| Decision-makers | over half of visitors |
| 2026 themes | shifting business models, transformative tech, people and purpose |
| Venue | RAI Amsterdam |
From 11 to 14 September 2026 at the RAI Amsterdam.
No. IBC is a general broadcast and media technology convention, but sport and live production are central to its programme, with dedicated sessions and case studies.
Around 45,000 visitors from more than 170 countries and roughly 1,300 exhibitors.
They are the two global reference broadcast events: NAB in Las Vegas in April, IBC in Amsterdam in September.
In 1967, the year colour television broadcasting reached Europe.
Shifting business models, transformative technology, and people and purpose, with AI, sport, and content authenticity as dominant threads.