Looking forward: what the industry predicts for production in 2025

In the latest instalment of TVBEuropes special features looking at predictions for the year ahead, we explore what 2025 might hold for the world of production, live production and virtual production

By Matthew Corrigan

Published: January 6, 2025 Updated: January 7, 2025

In the latest instalment of TVBEurope's special features looking at predictions for the year ahead, we explore what 2025 might hold for the world of production, live production and virtual production

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Michael Lantz, CEO, Accedo There's been a big towards live sports streaming with several of the large VoD services securing sports rights and bundling live sports into their SVoD subscriptions. Prime Video, Apple TV and Netflix have all been experimenting with adding sports to their offering, in the hope of attracting a new cohort of consumers, and to profit from the growing appetite for live sports streaming.

Netflix's move into live sports is perhaps the most interesting because in the past, the streamer has always been quite outspoken about having zero interest in live sports, yet it secured one of the biggest sporting rights deals in the US - the multi-million-dollar Christmas Day NFL game. Much like when Netflix introduced its advertising-funded business model, which was swiftly followed by the rest of the industry, its decision to move into live sports is an indicator of an industry wide strategy change.

Live sports have certainly helped drive revenue growth for streamers over the last year. However, while live sports are proving effective at attracting a certain group of viewers, it is a costly way to add value to the service. Sports content is highly valuable, and so naturally, the associated rights come with a huge price tag. Another challenge is the fact that viewer attraction to the service tends to diminish when the service no longer holds the sporting rights.

Eric Gallier, vice president, video solutions, Harmonic In 2024, AI-driven workflows took the industry by storm, with real-world applications such as auto-captioning, translation and personalised recommendations optimising costs, enhancing user experiences and unlocking new revenue streams for service providers and broadcasters. Additionally, hybrid workflows became standard.

Another key trend was live sports streaming. Platforms like Peacock excelled in managing high-demand events, highlighting the complexity of scaling from 20 million to 200 million concurrent viewers. Furthermore, the industry saw a shift from satellite to IP distribution, enabling service providers to reduce costs, and improve personalisation while maintaining exceptional video quality with low latency. Finally, media companies involved in delivering large-scale streaming services pivoted from growing the service at all costs to making it profitable. These trends are redefining how video is delivered and consumed.

Looking ahead, the impact is clear: streaming platforms are prioritising technologies and features that drive viewer interaction and retention. Beyond increasing ad loads, which are already near their limits, innovation is focusing on smarter monetisation strategies. For example, in-stream advertising utilising split-screen ad formats is revolutionising monetisation strategies for live sports streaming, offering a seamless blend of content and advertising to ensure an uninterrupted viewing experience while unlocking new revenue opportunities for service providers. These changes reflect a maturing industry, where success depends on blending viewer satisfaction with business sustainability.

In 2025, live sports will continue to dominate as a key driver of streaming growth, with media companies doubling down on acquiring rights and improving the scalability of infrastructure for large-scale event delivery. The number of live sports events streamed to massive audiences is set to grow, with platforms investing heavily in technologies to scale reliably for tens or even hundreds of millions of concurrent viewers.

Russell Johnson, director of Hitomi Broadcast 2024 marked the widespread adoption of SMPTE ST 2110 for major sporting events, as the industry gained confidence in IP-based production. We've also seen a pragmatic shift towards HDR at HD resolution rather than 4K UHD, offering quality improvements without excessive bandwidth demands.

These developments are enabling more sustainable remote production workflows, reducing the need to transport equipment globally. Production companies can now deliver higher production values despite tighter budgets, though managing timing accuracy in complex IP environments has become increasingly critical.

Throughout the new year, we expect to see more native' ST 2110 installations replacing hybrid SDI/IP setups, particularly in major sporting events. The focus will be on developing broadcast engineers' IT and networking expertise to manage these complex systems effectively.

Sports organisations will increasingly explore hybrid models, combining traditional broadcast partnerships with direct-to-consumer streaming capabilities. The industry will also focus more on precise timing verification as productions become more distributed across multiple locations.

Peder Boberg, product owner at Intinor 5G networks are being rolled out at pace, and in some regions, the jump from 4G to cutting-edge 5G has been transformative. This has been a game-changer for television, particularly in remote

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