The broadcast industry is undergoing a significant transformation, moving from traditional linear viewing to immersive technologies such as extended reality (XR). These technologies, along with virtual production, interactive storytelling, and data-driven personalization, are rapidly transitioning from experimental concepts to practical applications across news, sports, and entertainment programming.
This shift is largely driven by the need to engage younger demographics, particularly Generation Z, who exhibit different consumption patterns, preferring short-form, participatory content over passive viewing. Simultaneously, advancements in cloud-native architectures, 5G broadcast capabilities, and more accessible production tools are lowering the technical barriers to immersive content creation.
The convergence of artificial intelligence with XR technologies is creating exciting new possibilities for real-time, audience-specific content delivery. While the potential for immersive experiences to become mainstream is significant, questions surrounding commercial viability, technical scalability, and user adoption remain. IBC 2025 will be a key venue for addressing these challenges.
“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,” said Lucy Trang Nguyen, business development director at Accedo. These interfaces, she explains, will be “populated with relevant metadata, tailored content streams, contextually relevant advertising, and integrated commerce” to create commercial opportunities.
“Immersive formats shift audiences from passive viewing to active participation, whether through choice-driven storytelling, live interaction, or competition-inspired events,” said 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.”
In sports broadcasting, immersive technology offers significant enhancements. “Whether that’s a news or sports broadcaster using interactive overlays, real-time stats, and alternative camera angles to engage the audience with better storytelling,” said Paddy Taylor, head of broadcast at MRMC, “creators can offer bespoke branded content, and scalable production for social and broadcast platforms.”
Data-driven approaches are also crucial. “Our vision at Emergent is that immersive content needs to interact with the audience to increase engagement,” said David Jorba, chief business and strategy officer at Emergent. “This interaction should be driven by audience-specific and environmental real-time data that changes with the event’s pulse.”
Audio plays a vital role, especially in sports. “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,” said Sid Stanley, managing director at Calrec.
Accessibility is paramount. “Innovation only matters if it’s accessible,” said Bob Caniglia, director of sales operations for the Americas at Blackmagic Design. “Our goal is for the most powerful immersive storytelling tools to be just as approachable for a small creative team as they are for a large facility, and to make tools that integrate seamlessly into existing workflows.”
“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,” added Roberto Musso, technical director at NDI.
The shift towards immersive content is partly a response to evolving audience preferences. “Younger audiences tend to graze content and have very different viewing habits to traditional consumers; this is why one of the biggest challenges for broadcasters is engaging Gen-Z who are looking for relatable, short-form content,” explained Stanley. “Immersive and engaging storytelling is key to achieving this… broadcasters, rights owners, and vendors must work together…” he added.
Technological advancements are making immersive content creation more feasible. “Advances in virtual production and robotics now allow broadcasters and creators to generate high-quality, interactive visuals within compact, efficient setups, making immersive storytelling more accessible,” noted Taylor.
The industry advocates for a gradual adoption of these technologies. “Balancing innovation and adoption also means giving creators the opportunity to start small, scale up, and experiment with immersive formats at their own pace,” said Caniglia. “The key is removing barriers, so storytellers can focus on engaging audiences rather than wrestling with technology.”
As IBC 2025 approaches, the focus on immersive and interactive experiences highlights the industry's commitment to adapting to changing audience expectations while establishing sustainable business models.