It’s a question that gets harder to answer every year. The event floor is lined with innovations that push the limits of broadcast, production, and streaming – but the conversations that take place there rarely stay within the bounds of pure technology. They’re about trust, partnership, understanding, and the shared commitment to shaping what comes next.
This year, Amsterdam didn’t make it easy on the attendees. The weather had a mind of its own: bursts of rain arriving without warning, followed moments later by clear skies and sudden sunlight in the chill air. Typical Dutch weather: unpredictable, dramatic, and somehow charming. As one Xpresso colleague dryly observed, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing’.
It turned out to be a fitting metaphor for the show itself. Attendance numbers may have been lower than previous years, but for those who came prepared – not just with technology to showcase, but with stories, relationships, and human insight to share – the halls were full, the stands busy, and the conversations rich.
Those who dressed for the right show – the business show, the human show – felt none of the chill.
Business in the rain
If there’s one lesson the industry has learned in recent years, it’s that a live demo is no longer the draw it once was. Not to say that they don’t still hold importance, it’s just that increasingly, moat solutions can be explored remotely: customers can take a virtual tour, stream a product launch, or book an online demo any day of the week. But what you can’t replicate online is the atmosphere of connection – the quiet moments that build trust, spark curiosity, and turn partnerships into collaborations.
That’s the real show.
When visiting Xpresso clients, old and new, and meeting industry peers at their booths, we found that they had no shortage of visitors to their stands, despite the overall dip in foot traffic. Every conversation was an exchange, not just a presentation. Engineers, broadcasters, and technologists came not only to see what was new, but to talk about what mattered – to compare experiences, explore use cases, and share insights face to face. The discussions were practical, nuanced, human.
For Xpresso, that reinforces a truth we’ve long recognised: technology communication isn’t only about specs and features. It’s about how people use those technologies to solve real problems, and how trust and understanding shape every layer of that process.
A century of television – and of change
This year’s IBC took on an extra layer of reflection, marking ‘100 years of television’. In 1925, John Logie Baird gave his first public demonstration of mechanical TV: an invention so novel that the concept of ‘broadcast’ itself had barely been coined. The show’s celebration of that milestone was a timely reminder of how much the medium – and the industry around it – has evolved.
It also ran as an interesting contrast to the show’s Future Zone and Student Forums: an idea of looking backwards and forwards, not just with nostalgia, but with an understanding of the common thread: that it is curiosity and experimentation which are the real engines of progress.
And yet, walking through IBC’s Innovation Hall, one question lingered in the air: what really counts as ‘innovation’ in 2025? Artificial intelligence featured prominently – its potential, its pitfalls, its integration into nearly every aspect of production. But perhaps, ironically, that’s the point. AI is no longer an outlier. It’s mainstream, both in how we talk about it and in how we implement it.
Maybe the Innovation Hall is no longer where AI belongs? It’s not an experiment – it’s infrastructure. It’s the new normal, not the next frontier. That’s not to diminish its significance, but to recognise how fast it has moved from hypothetical to habitual. The hall that once celebrated AI’s novelty might now be better used to showcase what comes after – those emerging technologies still on the edge of imagination, the ones that make us stop and think ‘I’ve never seen that before’.
Connection as the constant
Across all the conversations, one idea came through clearly: whether we’re talking about John Logie Baird’s hand-built discs or AI-augmented production, what defines progress isn’t just invention – it’s communication. How we share ideas, how we collaborate, and how we build trust in the process.
That’s what makes events like IBC not just relevant, but vital. They’re not relics of a pre-digital age. They’re the living forum where ideas meet interpretation, where data meets dialogue. The physical space still matters, not because it can’t be replicated online, but because it shouldn’t be. Some conversations need time, eye contact, and the hum of a busy hall to take shape.
This year’s rain might have kept the crowds a little smaller, but those who came understood what the real weather was doing: testing how well we’d all dressed for it. The right preparation wasn’t a thicker coat or sturdier shoes – it was coming with openness, readiness to listen, and willingness to connect.
In the end, IBC 2025 reminded us of a simple truth. Technology might be the headline, but people are the story.
