IBC: time of change

Even though the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) has closed its 2022 edition with the visit of more than 37,000 professionals (19,000 less than in 2019), the problems presented by the RAI Centre and the city of Amsterdam itself to host a show of this magnitude are becoming more evident every year.

The unstoppable growth of IP technology versus traditional SDI, remote production, cloud services under a SaaS model and content monetization have marked the return of the sector to one of the two fairs of global reference for the industry that finally returned to normality.

But, precisely because together with NAB in Las Vegas, IBC is a unique meeting point for professionals, its organization composed of associations such as IABM, BTS, IET and SCTE cannot forget the pillars of its own foundation in 1967: “by the industry for the industry”.

The chaotic distribution of the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre and the over-saturation of the city’s hotels, among many other reasons, should make us consider whether it might be time to consider a change of venue once the current contract has expired.

While all cities with a strong trade fair activity during the days of the show inflate their hotel prices out of all proportion, it is not acceptable to pay in Amsterdam for a two-star hotel, with a service and spaces that leave much to be desired, what a five-star hotel would cost in many other European capitals.

The chaos at the airport combined with the public transport strike has turned the presence of professionals in Amsterdam into a living hell.

Moreover, in addition to the poor quality of the services and the poor gastronomic offer of the restaurants, this year there has been an unacceptable situation at Schipol airport with queues to pass a simple security check that in some cases reached four hours under the sun or the rain, and in the best cases did not go below of two hours. The chaos at the airport combined with the public transport strike has turned the presence of professionals in Amsterdam into a living hell.

The RAI complex itself seemed to have forgotten, due to the impasse of the pandemic, how to organize a fair of this level

The RAI complex itself seemed to have forgotten, due to the impasse of the pandemic, how to organize a fair of this level in terms of waiting times for accreditation (which on the first day reached an hour at some points), the management of the space reservation, or the services expected in a press room in order to facilitate the work of the reporters. Not to mention the discontent in the industry because of the disastrous cancellation policy in the last edition, where it was decided to cancel the event at the last minute without providing a clear refund policy.

Undoubtedly, it has been great to meet again without a mask in between, but it is time to think about the next step for IBC.

Antonio Castillo

Panorama Audiovisual Editor
Member of Academia de Televisión y de las Ciencias y Artes del Audiovisual