IBC 2025: Broadcasters Look to Real-Time Quality and Simplified Workflows

IBC 2025 made it clear, the broadcast and streaming industry is entering a new phase where real-time intelligence, perceptual video quality, and workflow simplicity are no longer optional, they are essential. For MainConcept, this was the backdrop to unveiling Codec SDK 16.0, and the response confirmed we are addressing the right challenges at the right moment.

Real-Time Quality: From Vision to Reality

Among our product introductions, MainConcept vScore drew the most attention, particularly from broadcasters managing live news and sports. The standout feature, VMAF-E, introduces AI-driven perceptual quality analysis designed for real-time environments. Traditionally, VMAF was too resource-intensive for live pipelines, but VMAF-E closes that gap, delivering scores up to 10x faster with near-zero latency. At IBC, the reaction was clear: tools like VMAF-E will enable broadcasters to monitor and act on quality issues as they happen, not after the fact.

Simplifying Complexity with Unified APIs

The other major talking point was workflow integration. Broadcasters are navigating a landscape of mixed codecs, hardware and hybrid infrastructures. Our MainConcept EVA (Easy Video API) and unified API resonate because they eliminate fragmentation, providing a consistent interface across hardware and software codecs. That consistency translates directly into faster development, smoother deployment, and easier scaling.

Themes Shaping the Industry

Looking at the big picture, conversations at IBC 2025 revealed a broader narrative:

• Automation and intelligence are moving into the core of video workflows.
• Quality metrics are important across use cases.
• Flexibility across hardware and environments is a competitive advantage, not a convenience.
• AI is practical when it delivers measurable efficiency and actionable insights, as VMAF-E demonstrated.

Where We Go From Here

The strong reception at IBC reflects a deeper shift: broadcasters and streamers are looking for technologies that collapse silos, reduce latency, and give them actionable data without adding operational burden. At MainConcept, we see this as a mandate, to keep delivering tools that not only encode video efficiently but also empower decision-making in real time.

IBC 2025 was a reminder that the future of video isn’t just about better compression. It’s about creating smarter, more agile workflows where quality is measured the way viewers perceive it, and where technology adapts seamlessly to whatever comes next.

Want to learn more or try these new technologies alongside our codecs, contact us or download a free trial today.