The total number of visitors, 55,128, to IBC2015 exceeded the record-breaking attendance in 2014. The event found ever more ways to engage with the community, ensuring that everyone who attended joined the debate about the future of electronic media.
At the centre of that debate was the future of media in an age of disruption. Speaking in the opening conference session, David Butorac of Middle Eastern broadcaster OSN asserted “We have to adapt, we have to recognise that the consumer is now in charge, but the future is bright for broadcasters.”
Fran Unsworth, the Director of BBC World Service, added “The future is digital and we need to expand it – but not at the expense of television and radio.”
This confidence that top quality content aimed at a broadcast audience can exist alongside YouTube and TV Everywhere was also reflected on the show floor. A record-breaking 1,800 exhibiting companies brought the latest in every aspect of the technology, from cameras to codecs, workflows to wearables, virtualisation to virtual reality.
“The media industry today is radically different from where we were even five years ago,” said Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC.
“We have gone from an industry that was defined by technology to one where we demand new functionality from our vendors; from an industry where broadcasters told us what we were going to watch to one where consumers call for content wherever and whenever they want.
“All that inevitably brings seismic shifts on every level,” he said. “IBC provides the independent forum for the conversation. We have worked hard to bring everyone together: the telcos, the social media and the innovators; and everyone from the CEOs who attend our Leaders’ Summit to the engineers and creative artists who walk the show floor and learn in the conference. Only IBC provides this comprehensive platform – this is where the real debates take place.”
Covering all this and more was IBC TV, now a rolling 24 hour news streaming service. The mix of interviews, features and coverage of keynotes and other important conference sessions is available for the coming year on computers and mobiles, via www.ibc.org/vod.
