Inside IBC 2025: Key Trends Shaping the Future of AV

This September, proAV joined more than 1,300 exhibitors and thousands of attendees at IBC 2025 in Amsterdam one of the world’s most influential events for media, entertainment and technology. The buzz across the show floor and conference sessions centred on four themes: artificial intelligence, cloud-native workflows, immersive experiences and sustainability. Here are the trends we believe will shape the future of AV and how organisations use technology to connect, communicate and create.

Artificial Intelligence Takes Center Stage

Artificial intelligence was a central theme at IBC 2025, reflecting its rapid development and growing impact across the industry. From multilingual captioning to automated highlight creation, AI is moving beyond theory and becoming an everyday tool that helps organisations connect with audiences more effectively. Its most powerful capability is turning vast amounts of data into instant, personalised content, whether that is sports highlights, live translations or adaptive camera feeds. The same potential is increasingly relevant for AV, where AI can condense lengthy meetings into concise summaries, generate clips of key moments for internal distribution, and provide multilingual captions to support global audiences. Beyond content, AI is also transforming production processes, from automated camera tracking and intelligent shot framing to audio tools that remove background noise or copyrighted music in real time. These efficiencies reduce workloads, extend the value of content and enable data-driven decision-making, with AI analysing audience behaviour and adapting outputs in real time to maximise engagement. Seeing these technologies demonstrated first-hand just how quickly AI is moving, and it will be exciting to explore where else these tools can be applied across AV in the years ahead.

By 2030, up to 90 per cent of content could be AI-generated, a warning shared by industry leaders at IBC 2025.

Immersive and Interactive Experiences

Immersive technologies are rapidly reshaping how organisations communicate, with this year’s event highlighting just how far the industry has progressed. Virtual production tools showed how XR studios can transform a standard environment into a dynamic stage, blending real and virtual elements in real time. Broadcasters are already using this to let presenters interact with data, graphics and 3D models as if they were physically in the room, creating experiences that feel more engaging and memorable. The same opportunities are now emerging in AV, where XR can elevate product launches, hybrid presentations and guided walk-throughs by making complex content more interactive and visually compelling. These tools are also proving valuable in training and education, enabling employees to explore realistic simulations, practise complex procedures and gain hands-on experience beyond what traditional formats allow.

As Richard Mackie, Design Manager at proAV highlighted:

“What stood out to me was how adaptable XR has become. Seeing spaces instantly reconfigured for a keynote, product launch or training session really shows the potential of immersive technologies to change how we design and deliver experiences"

Greener Workflows, Smarter Outcomes

Sustainability emerged as a clear theme, with companies showing how new technology can cut energy use without compromising performance. From low-power processors and efficient displays to smarter lighting and carbon-tracking tools, the focus was on making production more responsible as well as more effective. The message carries clear weight for AV, especially as immersive technologies like XR become more common in live production, training and corporate environments. These energy-intensive setups demand efficient design, and greener solutions not only support ESG goals but also lower running costs, extend system lifecycles and deliver better long-term value.

Cloud-Native Workflows and IP Production

Cloud-native workflows are changing how content is created and delivered by moving editing, graphics and distribution into the cloud. For broadcasters, this means instant scalability, real-time collaboration across locations and faster publishing, all without the need for heavy on-site infrastructure. Alongside this, IP production is replacing traditional cabling with standard IT networks, allowing video, audio and data to travel more flexibly and efficiently. Those principles are already influencing how AV networks are managed and scaled across organisations. Cloud platforms and AV-over-IP give organisations centralised management and the ability to distribute content consistently across rooms, campuses or even global sites. The result is greater efficiency, lower costs and systems that can adapt quickly as demands change.

As Richard Mackie, Design Manager at proAV, explained:

"What impressed me about the cloud-native workflows on show at IBC was how directly they apply to large-scale AV systems. The shift to AV-over-IP is not just about replacing cables with networks, it is about enabling true centralisation. With content, control and monitoring hosted in the cloud, organisations can scale across campuses or global sites with far greater resilience and efficiency. For me, this represents a fundamental change in how we design enterprise AV infrastructures."

Conclusion

IBC 2025 highlighted how fast the media and technology landscape is evolving, and the same innovations are already shaping the future of AV. From AI to cloud, immersive environments to sustainable design, the direction is clear: smarter, more efficient and more engaging systems. For organisations, the challenge now is not just to keep pace, but to explore how these tools can unlock new ways of working and connecting with audiences.

These trends are moving fast, but the opportunities are even greater. Talk to proAV today to see how we can help you bring them into your organisation.