AMSTERDAM: IBC which is held at the Rai exhibition centre in Amsterdam in September every year is considered a very important stop in every leading broadcaster, systems integrator, OTT platform, technology provider, equipment manufacturer’s  calendar. 2024 saw its importance rise even further as a record number of executives, journalists, sales folks, students descended from their planes in the famed Schipol airport and made their way to the south of the city between 13 and 16 September.  

The constant refrain amongst most attendees was that IBC2024 had outscored the other famous exhibition which is held in Las Vegas – the NAB show -which until now was considered a bigger trade show. The final day is an indicator of a trade show’s success. At the Rai, stands were packed as meetings continued till post lunch and some booths had conversations continuing till as late as 3:30 pm when the exhibition was supposed to close at 4pm on 16 September.

Amongst the Indian companies which had taken up booths included: Tata Elxsi, Tata Communications, PlanetCast, Magnifi, Amagi, Canara Lighting, Ali Corp, Tabsons, UTO Solutions, Prime Focus Technologies, Workflow Labs, and Magnaquest.

The aisles were bustling with Indians as systems integrators, distributors, resellers, technology executives, engineers scoured the booths to get abreast of the latest in solutions. Techies from Disney Star India, Whistling Woods, Sun TV, Zee5, GTPL Hatway, Hathway, Prasar Bharti, Hoichoi, Jio Platforms, NDTV, among many others kept busy over the duration of the exhibition.

With the  rise of streaming, mergers and acquisitions amongst media majors, cord cutting continuing, explosion in free to air, automation of work processes, the uptake of generative AI and AI as a whole, increase in adoption of the cloud, Indian industry is grappling with which way they should direct their investments in tech so that they can get an efficient return on their investments and be future ready as well. Hence, the rush to tech shows such as IBC.