As broadcast and media operations scale to meet growing demand across live, playout, and OTT workflows, the pressure to do more with less has never been greater. Not just from a business perspective, but from a sustainability one. With regulations like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) expanding in scope, energy use, emissions, and even supply chain accountability are becoming operational concerns, not just compliance checkboxes.
The good news is that many of the same strategies that drive efficiency also drive sustainability. When workflows are built around resource optimization, energy savings follow. The challenge is applying this thinking across complex and often fragmented operational environments.
View More
Media never sits still. In the past decade, we’ve swapped tape for digital, cable for streaming and edit bays for global remote workflows. Every shift opens new doors for creativity and new challenges for how we work.
But behind every blockbuster, ad campaign or streaming series lies a cost the industry has often swept under the rug: the carbon footprint of media production. Terabytes of footage are duplicated, stored and transferred across multiple facilities and networks.
View More
In streaming, efficiency is multidimensional: speed, sustainability, security, cost, and reliability must align. With decades of experience, G&L Systemhaus shows it’s no longer about the ‘best’ path, but about the best combinations that deliver efficiency in watts, time, and trust.
View More
Some readers may remember the ECOFLOW project (Energy-Conserving Optimization for Future-ready, Low-impact Online Workflows) that featured in the IABM Journal last November. The project, part of the IBC2024 Accelerator Programme, co-led by Accedo and Humans Not Robots, in partnership with BBC, ITV, Bitmovin, RTL Netherland, Quanteec, Cognizant, the IET, Fraunhofer Fokus, Greening of Streaming, DIMPACT and the EBU, set out to understand energy use of key components in the streaming value chain and see how they react under different conditions. It delivered groundbreaking findings around the energy usage of end-user devices and demonstrated proof-of-concept optimizations.
It was also invaluable in highlighting the state of play, and acted as a reminder of how much we still don’t know. The second phase of the project, ECOFLOW II, is now underway as part of the IBC Accelerator Programme. It builds on the success of last year’s project, with a sharper focus on data visibility and real-world engagement.
View More
The IABM Technology and Trends Roadmap isn’t just for industry technologists to use as a reference. IABM has discovered industry execs using it as a starting point for their keynote speeches: product line managers are using it to plot their own products; and corporate board members get a better understanding of where the company’s products sit on the adoption curve, hence a better grasp or risks vs gross margins. This also assists marketing activities by giving an indication of how best to promote products within M&E and adjacent/vertical market areas.
View More
As the competition for audience share intensifies and high-scale live event streaming grows at an unprecedented pace, broadcasters and streaming platforms face mounting pressures to balance infrastructure investment with profitability. According to AppLogic Network’s 2025 Global Internet Phenomena Report, video traffic continues to represent the largest application category by volume, with users downloading an average 5.63GB per day and the top 10 traffic days in 2024 all coinciding with a live streaming sporting event. Live streaming is pushing networks to their limits while driving intense energy consumption requirements.
View More
The sports broadcasting industry is at a critical turning point. Fans demand ever-more immersive, high-quality experiences, while broadcasters and production companies face increasing pressure to reduce their environmental footprint. Traditional production models – characterized by large-scale travel, extensive on-site infrastructure, and energy-intensive workflows – are no longer sustainable.
View More
Focus and momentum around sustainability in the streaming industry has been visibly building over recent years. During this time, a number of organizations such as Humans Not Robots, Greening of Streaming and DIMPACT, have formed with sustainability as their raison d’être. Their work is doing much to broaden industry knowledge around the topic of sustainability. Additionally, there is a growing willingness among media organizations and technology vendors to reduce their carbon impact and contribute to making the entire value chain more sustainable.
View More
As millions of users consume streaming video content across various platforms daily, video app providers and mobile network operators face immense pressure to manage data usage and bandwidth efficiently. This challenge presents an opportunity to make the industry more sustainable. Leveraging data analytics captured through real device testing, streaming video service providers can not only optimize data transmission but also reduce energy consumption and promote sustainable user behavior. Vodafone, Telefonica, and Meta have already communicated interesting results in this field.
View More
When considering traditional technology deployments within post-production and broadcast companies, the term “cycle of hardware” highlights a common situation for media technology buyers. Every 2-5 years, companies find themselves entangled in a relentless cycle of sourcing, implementing, powering, and retiring physical hardware – servers, storage systems, backup solutions.
View More
