Afterthoughts of IBC – State of the Industry

Every September, IBC in Amsterdam gives the global media and entertainment community a reality check. This year, besides the glossy demos and the inevitable buzzwords, the conversations in the halls and over coffee told a really clear story: our industry is entering a new phase. The hype cycles of the past decade — 3D, VR, AI, metaverse — gave way to pragmatism. We left the show convinced of five key shifts that are irreversibly changing the way we produce and consume media. Here is the gist.

1. The High of the Cloud Monopolised by Hyperscalers Is Over – Back to Reality

For years, “cloud” was shorthand for progress. Entire strategies were built around a wholesale migration to AWS, Azure or Google Cloud. Yet as Evan Shapiro rightfully reminded the audience: “traditional media aren’t collapsing, all the growth is flowing to big tech platforms”. The more media companies outsourced their infrastructure, the more leverage the hyperscalers gained.

At IBC 2025, the mood was different. We saw the pendulum swinging back. Not towards abandoning cloud, but towards a redefinition. And this is not just about companies  such as Limecraft and Strada advocating for repatriating storage from the cloud to back on prem (cf. Hybrid Storage – Balancing Cost and Performance); also MovieLabs’ ‘The Vision 2030‘ specifies “cloud” in the broadest sense: not just public cloud, but any infrastructure—on-premises or hybrid—that is remotely accessible and scalable.

Why? Because producers want flexibility, control, and cost predictability. Storage arrays in a datacenter you can walk into suddenly feel less old-fashioned, and more like common sense. For Limecraft, this validates our approach: making workflows cloud-enabled, not cloud-dependent.

2. Formats Drive Technology, Not the Other Way Around

In the 2010s, vendors drove the agenda with one-size-fits-all MAM systems and toolchains. If you were making documentaries, reality TV, or scripted drama, you were offered essentially the same stack. That is now over.

In search of operational efficiency, formats are now dictating the technology layout. The needs of a daily talk show differ radically from those of a scripted series. Interestingly, we expect that multinational producers like ITV Studios (e.g. ITV Studios Daytime) or Fremantle (see ‘Customisable Workflows Create Operational Efficiency‘ at Arrow Media) will increasingly seek economies of scale by replicating format-specific tech stacks across territories. At IBC, we’ve had several conversations less interested in shiny features and more in whether a system could adapt to their formats and scale internationally.

This puts pressure on vendors: flexibility and interoperability are not optional. For Limecraft, whose platform already supports collaborative production workspaces optimised per genre, it’s a clear vindication of our philosophy.

3. Out-of-the-Box Integration Becomes the Norm

System integrators once thrived by building bridges between closed systems. Today, customers expect those bridges to be included. Modern software exposes open and documented APIs;  “out-of-the-box integration” is no longer a nice-to-have but a prerequisite.

At IBC, producers and broadcasters repeatedly stressed that they don’t want to budget months of bespoke engineering just to connect their MAM system to editing, subtitling, or QC tools. They expect vendors to do the work upfront, thereby mitigating a usually very substantial implementation risk.

This inevitably has a massive impact on the role of traditional integrators: from wiring up basic software components to orchestrating value-added services, compliance, and customisation. For Limecraft, whose production and delivery workspaces connect directly with Avid, Adobe, Ooona, and others, this is a trend which aligns perfectly with our roadmap.

4. AI Becomes Purposeful – Next Stop: Auto-Editing

Yes, AI was everywhere at IBC. But compared to the hype of 2023–24, there was a shift from ‘AI as a gimmick’ to ‘AI with a purpose’. What we introduced earlier as Media Intelligence before, clearly passed the reality check.

We saw real traction in speech-to-text enabling summarisation or shot listing, subtitling and dubbing; as well as image description for indexing and accessibility purposes. These aren’t experiments anymore—they’re becoming tools in the automated production pipeline. In his latest piece, Andy Marken noted that AI localisation tools were among the most impressive demonstrations at the show, breaking down language barriers in near real time.

And here’s a prediction for what’s upcoming in the next 12-24 months: a quantumleap in auto-editing. Not necessarily replacing editors, but at least taking care of all clerical tasks including audio sync, dailies, rough cuts, highlight reels, compliance versions, etc — essentially enabling creative professionals can focus on the story. Whoever masters this balance between automation and creativity defines the next decade of postproduction. At Limecraft, we are already embedding these capabilities into collaborative workflows, and rest assured the best is yet to come 🤔.

5. Rationalisation, Consolidation – and New Business Models

IBC also reflected a sobering reality: content production growth is slowing, and costs are under scrutiny. Rationalisation and consolidation will reduce the sheer volume of production. What fills the gap? New monetisation models.

Doug Shapiro’s essay What if All Media is Marketing? echoed loudly in Amsterdam. As generative AI slashes creation costs, much content will cease to be a profit center. Instead, it becomes top-of-funnel marketing, with value shifting to complements like merchandise, live events, or communities.

At the same time, alliances and bundling are back, as illustrated by deals struck by Netflix (with TF1, Canal+, SK Broadband) and Disney+ (with ITVX, ZDF, Atresmedia) as evidence that distribution is moving towards federation and cooperation. In an era of fragmented attention, collaboration is often smarter than competition.

The Bottom Line

IBC 2025 wasn’t about shiny gadgets. It was about realism. Cloud is no longer a religion. Formats dictate technology. Integration is assumed. AI is growing up. And content, by itself, is not the business anymore. So where does this leave us? A few clear themes:

• Cloud is a method, not a destination. Expect hybrid models to dominate.
• Formats rule. Technology adapts to storytelling, not the other way around.
• Integration is table stakes. Customers buy ecosystems, not silos.
• AI must be purposeful. Tools that save time and improve quality win.
• Business models are shifting. Content is increasingly marketing, not the end product.

At Limecraft, we didn’t need convincing — we’ve been building for this reality for years. But seeing it resonate across Amsterdam was validating. The industry is waking up. The only question now: who adapts fast enough to thrive in this new, pragmatic era?