IBC2025: Creators Taking Over the Industry
“We consider broadcasters as creators,” YouTube told an audience of traditional media at IBC in Amsterdam this week but it is far from clear if broadcasters fully understand the implications.
At IBC, a trade show for technology that underpins the business of TV, the rise of YouTube, the growing professionalization of content creators, and the attempts by vendors to court them was a notable trend.
Fish Where the Fish Are
A billion hours of YouTube is watched on TVs every day and broadcasters need to figure out how to adapt.
“The biggest myth is that YouTube cannibalizes TV,” said Justine Ryst, MD, YouTube France. “What we observe is that YouTube is the best ally to TV. Our job is completely different to TV. We do not commission content nor own IP. We offer a global playground for creators with tools to analyse and monetize your audience with global reach.”
She added, “We consider broadcasters as creators.”
Self-described Media Universe Cartographer Evan Shapiro urged broadcasters to wake up to the facts and change.
“We now have a melding of mainstream media and the Creator economy into what I call the Affinity economy,” he said. “It's a whole new set of rules. What's fascinating is that traditional media tends to dismiss, the Creator economy, or be afraid of it, but if they really understood that--if they embraced the Creator economy--they could dominate it. But they just choose not to right now.”
Media Universe Cartographer Evan Shapiro at IBC 2025 (photo credit IBC)
For people under the age of 35, YouTube is far and away the number one television device, Shapiro added. “In second place is Netflix and number three is TikTok. I think that the traditional media players don't understand that these Generations matter, and then if they don't adapt and change they're going to lose Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha forever.”
There is some movement. The IABM reported at IBC that the emergence of YouTube as the top TV viewing platform in the US in the past six months (and second behind iPlayer in the UK) is not just driven by the creator economy.
“Broadcasters are leaning into the platform as an opportunity to increase the reach of their content, and commissioning original, digital-first material designed for these platforms,” said IABM analyst Chris Evans.
In the UK the leader is Channel 4, which has grown its audience on YouTube by 169% since putting volumes of content, including long form, on the platform a year ago.
“Younger audiences are moving digital first and while we would like them to come to our app the marketing cost and effort became too hard,” said Grace Boswood, Director of Technology & Distribution at Channel 4. “We fish where the fish are. That’s the logic of our YouTube strategy.”
She admitted that some C4 execs remain sceptical of the YouTube partnership. “To make it work, it has to be 1+1 =3,” Boswood said. “We sell our own advertising around our longform content on YouTube with a revenue share that allows our sales team to do their job. They can sell at a better rate than YouTube’s team making it financially positive for us and the risk of experimentation worthwhile.”
YouTube's Justine Ryst (middle); C4's Grace Boswood (right) (photo credit Adrian Pennington)
The broadcaster remains selective about what the content it publishes outside of its own platforms. Tentpole show Great British Bake Off, for example, remains on TV.
“The discovery of Channel 4 on YouTube is what we need to work on. The more data we get about the audience on the platform is vital.”
Vendors Accessorize the iPhone
Broadcasters are not alone in attempting to reach younger demographics. As video technology democratises the business of media creation its leaves vendors scrabbling for margin. Is it possible to retrofit broadcast gear for the creator market?
Several exhibitors were launching new product at IBC directly targeting the TikTok generation.
“The creator market is huge,” declared Peter Barber, CEO at video monitor and recorder maker Atomos. “We're seeing the evolution of the creator market. Creators who once filmed everything on their phone now want to increase their production value. They realize that if they want their video to look better than the next creator, they do that with more professional cameras.”
ATOMOSphere
Atomos has expanded its range of products targeting creators to include a cloud platform for media storage, backup, sharing, and review (ATOMOSphere), a video co-processor for smartphones (Ninja Phone) that lets you record from professional HDMI cameras and the ability to live stream straight into Grass Valley’s AMPP production environment, all from a mobile setup.
The ecosystem is built around the iPhone and it’s not the only company which is now accessorizing for Apple.
Blackmagic Design introduced the Camera ProDock, a sub-$300 device with a variety of connectors that attaches to an iPhone and enables additional production flexibility from storage and audio to batteries – helping turn the iPhone into a more professional video tool.
Blackmagic Design Camera ProDock
The iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max can already record 4K at 120 frames a second. “With the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max you are now getting optics and capabilities that extends over and above many traditional hardware cine cameras, but because the iPhone only has one USBC connection point you're either going to use that to charge the phone or for one other accessory,” said BMD’s Simon Westland.
Blackmagic also has an app for the iPhone that gives users greater control over parameters like frame rate and white balance.
Adobe has just launched an app for Premiere Pro editing on an iPhone which includes multi-tracks and audio waveforms. “In a field like social media, where every millisecond counts for your audience to stop them from scrolling, you can edit with precision,” said Jason Druss, Adobe’s Sr Product Marketing Manager. “You can take b-roll and literally put it over a track.”
Fussing with timelines on a small screen might seem anathema to pro editors used to working on Avid or indeed Adobe Premiere Pro’s desktop version but you’re only showing your age, said Druss.
“If you're of the younger generation it’s just quite natural. For those of a certain generation, myself included, you'd think it takes a little getting used to, but when you see the multi-tracks and the waveforms on Premiere for iPhone it just makes sense. It really is the timeline experience of Premiere on your phone.”
Canon, a camera brand which transformed itself from stills to video to cater for the changing needs of the prosumer market, also targeted creators with its latest Cinema EOS model.
Creators Are Pro Kit Buyers
“The creator market seems to be where everything's going,” said Philip Harpley, technical product specialist at Canon Europe introducing the new EOS C50. This is a video first market opening up the Pro end of the photo camera market to more video options.”
Canon EOS C50
This camera can shoot 7K video and 32 megapixel stills but importantly it’s the first EOS to feature the full frame 3:2 open gate recording. This enables creators to capture vertical as well as horizontal shots at the same time, output both to different memory cards, primed for social media.
Visiting IBC for the first time was Justin Dawson from the All Things TechIE Podcast. “This is a techie dream to have cranes, cameras and movable devices all here.”
His number one pick of the show was Stream Deck Studio, a control surface for broadcast environments made by Elgato.
Elgato Stream Deck Studio
Video and podcast producer Laura Wilkes from Communicating for Impact was also looking for kit to buy. “I'm looking for lights that we can use in small spaces and also for a pop-up studio to expand our current kit. I've already been to Sony to check out the FX2 camera if you're thinking about upgrading your camera too.”
Asked how many creators he thought were present at IBC, Atomos’ Barber said, “Pre-COVID the industry was siloed. Broadcast here, prosumer there. Now those lines are blurred.”
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