The broadcast industry is undergoing a significant transformation, moving beyond traditional linear viewing towards immersive technologies. Extended reality (XR), virtual production, interactive storytelling, and data-driven personalization are rapidly evolving from experimental concepts to practical applications across news, sports, and entertainment.
This shift is driven by the need to engage younger demographics, particularly Generation Z, who prefer short-form, participatory content. Simultaneously, advancements in cloud-native architectures, 5G broadcast capabilities, and more accessible production tools are making immersive content creation more achievable.
“Immersive content streaming will likely happen on personal XR devices, where the convergence of XR and AI enables interactive 360° and 180° video experiences far beyond the traditional 2D screen, paired with always-accessible, personalised interfaces,” says Lucy Trang Nguyen, business development director at Accedo. These interfaces will be “populated with relevant metadata, tailored content streams, contextually relevant advertising, and integrated commerce.”
“Immersive formats shift audiences from passive viewing to active participation, whether through choice-driven storytelling, live interaction, or competition-inspired events,” notes Francesca Pezzoli, vice president of marketing at Looper Insights. “The commercial opportunity lies in turning that deeper connection into stronger ecosystems and more durable revenue streams.”
For sports broadcasting, immersive technology offers enhanced viewing experiences. Paddy Taylor, head of broadcast at MRMC, highlights the potential for “interactive overlays, real-time stats, and alternative camera angles” to create more engaging content. David Jorba, chief business and strategy officer at Emergent, emphasizes the importance of data-driven interaction: “Immersive content needs to interact with the audience to increase engagement…driven by audience-specific and environmental real-time data.”
Audio is also key, as Sid Stanley, managing director at Calrec, points out: “We are already seeing this in genres like sports where techniques are being implemented such as microphone placement in crowds, on players’ helmets and in goals so viewers at home can get a more realistic in-stadium experience.”
Accessibility is crucial for widespread adoption. Bob Caniglia, director of sales operations for the Americas at Blackmagic Design, states: “Innovation only matters if it’s accessible.” Roberto Musso, technical director at NDI, adds: “It is essential that as an industry we strive to lower access barriers which allows teams to make immersive formats easy to deploy, view and interact with, without specialized hardware.”
The industry is focusing on gradual adoption, allowing creators to “start small, scale up, and experiment with immersive formats at their own pace,” according to Caniglia. The goal is to remove technological barriers, enabling storytellers to focus on audience engagement.
IBC 2025 will be a key event for showcasing the latest immersive technologies and their applications across different production scales and budgets.