The 13th HbbTV Symposium and Awards in Istanbul has underscored the accelerating international expansion of the HbbTV standard, with strong growth across Europe, Turkey and the wider MENA region.
The event, co-hosted by the HbbTV Association and Turkish addressable advertising solutions provider TVekstra, took place on 12-13 November and drew its most international audience to date.
The programme brought together broadcasters, platform operators, manufacturers, ad-tech providers, researchers and service companies for keynotes, panels and presentations. Discussions focused on the fragmentation of the Connected TV (CTV) landscape – now driven by more than a dozen operating systems – and the increasingly important role of HbbTV and DVB-I in enabling scalable services across hybrid and IP-only environments. FAST Channels, analytics, audience measurement and consent management were among the other major themes.
Turkey’s fast-moving ecosystem stood out, with strong HbbTV deployments, advanced ad-tech capabilities and a growing community of CTV innovators. Across the MENA region, HbbTV-enabled addressable TV now reaches 34 million households, complementing more than 100 million homes in Europe.
“This was probably our best Symposium yet – exceptional in its setting, content, engagement and the many new participants it attracted” said HbbTV Chair Vincent Grivet. “The standard now goes well beyond the red button into advertising, measurement, analytics and consent solutions. In today’s highly fragmented CTV environment, HbbTV provides a unifying framework that allows a single application to run reliably across diverse operating systems and devices, reducing complexity, saving time and costs while improving efficiency.”
TVekstra CEO Merve Eraslanoğlu said the Istanbul venue reflected the region’s rapid CTV evolution. “For TVekstra, the event underscored the rising demand for transparent, scalable and privacy-first advertising solutions that work reliably across diverse platforms and devices. With millions of households now reachable and strong momentum from broadcasters and advertisers alike, the market is primed for meaningful transformation. We were proud to co-host an event that fostered collaboration, aligned industry expectations and set the foundation for the next stage of CTV growth in the region.”
The 8th HbbTV Awards showcased innovation across the ecosystem, with winners across advertising, accessibility, technology and content discovery categories. Spain’s CCMA – 3Cat took home awards for both accessibility and AI-driven content discovery, while UK-based Everyone TV was recognised for its hybrid account-linking platform. UK-based BCi Digital won the technology tool category for its advanced addressable advertising suite while Turkey’s TVekstra secured the advertising innovation award for an interactive sports-linked campaign. CCMA – 3Cat was also named Newcomer of the Year for its strong accessibility work and early application of generative AI techniques.
At the end of the two-day event, HbbTV Chair Vincent Grivet announced that the 14th HbbTV Symposium and Awards will take place in Spain in 2026. Presentations, the brochure, speaker details and the picture gallery are available on the event website.