Some of our top execs break down AI adoption, smart TV fragmentation, and operator priorities in four videos filmed on VO's IBC2026 stand, where the theme of growth taking root took center stage.
We are happy to report that we had an extremely positive IBC, with a busy stand across the four days. There were plenty of meetings with customers old and new and much interest in our different demo stations, as well as speculation about what the eye-catching neon sculpture in the center of our stand represented.
It was, of course, a stylized tree, and tied into our theme for the show of Where Growth Takes Root.
It also made a good backdrop for the videos shot on our stand. Getting in front of the cameras and being able to talk directly to people who are not actually at the show is ironically always an important part of the whole trade show process. So we asked a trio of our leading experts to perform media duties while IBC was underway.
Pascal Birot is our VP of Sales for the EMEAR region, Benoit Brieussel is VP Product & Solutions, and Salimali Shakir is our VP of Global Presales. Between them they have a wealth of experience and insight into what is happening in the industry today. And at IBC2026 we were delighted to work with the IAMT and the KitPlus teams on the following content.
Smart TV Fragmentation, Younger Viewers, and AI
Benoit Brieussel talks to IAMT's Business Intelligence Unit about VO's roadmap and how the company finds itself on the one hand working with new entrants needing a full end-to-end service, and on the other with mature operators upgrading specific areas such as playback or security.
He says adoption of smart TV continues to grow alongside flattening set-top box volumes, and names fragmentation and performance as the key challenges VO's video player and backend systems address. He links younger viewers' vertical, short-form habits to new UI work aimed at retention, and finally namechecks security, usability, and partnerships as strategic priorities in the current market.
As you would expect, AI features heavily in all plans, both now and in the future, and he talks of its increasing deployment in voice interfaces, operational monitoring, and product consistency.
"We think of AI as a tool to serve the business and benefit the end user," he says. "It can provide a voice interface instead of navigating complex menus, help operations teams be more productive by anticipating problems before they happen, and make us more consistent across everything we do for our customers."
Tackling TV's Biggest Operator Challenges
Pascal Birot talks about the pressures facing TV operators and service providers right now. He covers the push to cut costs while still growing, why monetization and new revenue streams matter, and how AI is being applied across the value chain, from back-end infrastructure to development tools to the UI. He also touches on the importance of the user experience, reaching new audiences, and why operators are prioritizing long-term technology partnerships over short-term vendor relationships.
"We are proud to say that during this show we have extended our long-term contracts with most of our biggest customers," he says.
The Tech Trends Reshaping TV
Benoit Brieussel also discusses the trends he sees shaping the TV market: cloudification, AI, and automation driving efficiency, alongside growing investment in cybersecurity and more personalized user experiences. He explains VO's product-oriented, customer-led approach, including work on Gen Z viewing habits and voice-led interaction, and how the company is working on closer collaboration between CDNs and video players to improve playback quality.
"We have some different innovation around, for instance, a more natural, voice-oriented interaction with our products, which makes it easier for the end user to discover content, or for admins to be more efficient in using our consoles," he says.
Smarter, More Scalable TV Services
Salimali Shakir talks through what operators need when modernizing existing infrastructure: scalability, flexibility, automation, security, and compliance (including GDPR, an area he notes VO addresses as part of the Orange Group). He gives a concrete example of the approach, breaking high-load services out into microservices that scale independently, backed by CI/CD pipelines and GitOps for faster deployment.
"What we do is we take out some of those services, we build them into a microservice that can scale fast," he explains. "Once you're in production, that service scales faster, and we also put in place CI/CD pipelines with GitOps, so we are doing deployments much faster."
Coming next?
That is all the video we have for now, but there are plenty of smaller events taking place all the time around the world beyond the big trade show cycle. These are either more regional, more panel and discussion-oriented, more focused on a single topic or industry segment, or all of the above. Head to our Events page to see the ones we are attending over the next few months. We look forward to seeing you out there!
