Unifying hybrid orchestration layers
LiveU’s Roy Hasson, VP product marketing and SaaS sales, explores how advances in digital‑first operations, AI and workflow automation and the continued migration to IP-based live production are transforming decision-making across media and entertainment
The broadcast industry is undergoing a major transition; the rapid acceleration of IP, AI, 5G and cloud technology capabilities, in tandem with changing viewing habits, is driving three defining trends: digital‑first operations, AI and workflow automation, and the continued migration to IP-based live production. Together, these trends are shaping strategic and operational decision‑making across the industry. To remain competitive, and to satisfy growing consumer appetites, broadcasters must deliver more cost-efficient, high-quality, diverse live content to more platforms, using remote, distributed and hybrid workflows.
Intelligent choices
To succeed in this new media era, broadcasters and technology suppliers need to think differently. The experimentation with new technologies implemented since Covid is maturing into operational transformation. The emphasis now, is a shift from siloed broadcast infrastructures to unified hybrid orchestration layers that increase value through predictable and reliable workflows. An open product suite that works within existing ecosystems gives broadcasters more choice through increased access to protocols and technology partners, and greater opportunity to scale. By matching the right technology and teams to individual use cases, resources are maximised.
Marking a new phase for live sports and events, multi-layered production models that blend AI, hybrid human AI workflows, and cloud-native processes, can effectively support tier-one, tier-two, and tier-three content. As integrated AI technology progresses from rules-based to generative to autonomous agentic, an additional layer of intelligent automation emerges – enabling seamless workflow integration and broader automation, rather than simply supporting specific tasks.
Capable of planning and executing complex tasks with minimal human intervention, multiple AI agents can serve specific requirements while collaborating to deliver a seamless workflow.
Agentic AI could redefine live broadcast operations but integration of intelligent automation needs careful consideration. Broadcasters need a clear and strategic understanding of the workflows required for dedicated use cases to maximise the benefits of agentic AI when building intelligent orchestration layers. Otherwise they risk AI systems that disrupt operations instead of enhancing them. This is backed up by data from Gartner, “over 40% of today’s agentic AI projects will be cancelled by 2027, due to escalating costs, unclear business value or inadequate risk controls.”
Despite challenges, Gartner’s outlook remains broadly optimistic, “at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI by 2028, up from 0% in 2024. In addition, 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1% in 2024.”
Critical foundational operational models
This feeds into critical story-centric workflows. With an intelligent orchestration layer in place, broadcasters can organise their operations around stories rather than the platforms that carry them, seamlessly and swiftly scaling live events using simplified, cost-effective hybrid workflows. Operating from a ‘single pane of glass’ makes storytelling more accessible for all.
Intelligent orchestration plays a key role in connecting the elements – ensuring live productions move seamlessly from planning-to-air across both linear and digital channels. Automated digital layers for multi-platform distribution can be orchestrated enabling platform specific versions of live content – one workflow with different components.
This is the glue that broadcasters need to meet audiences where they are – on their platform of choice.
In 2025, the DPP asked attendees to make predictions about the year ahead – one of which was that ‘power will shift towards the creator economy’. At the same event in 2026, 82% of attendees agreed this prediction had proven accurate.
As the creator economy continues to influence storytelling formats and audience expectations, broadcasters are adapting with more flexible, story-centric production models that prioritise speed and accessibility – without compromising accuracy, editorial integrity, or the importance of the stories they tell.
Digital platforms are not extensions of linear operations, but primary destinations for content creation, distribution, and engagement, and broadcasters are beginning to understand how to connect with new audiences through the digital ecosystem.
In the UK, the BBC recently announced a landmark ‘digital-only’ partnership with YouTube, which sees the broadcaster produce original content spanning entertainment, documentaries, children’s channels, news and sport for the platform.
ITVX is also growing its digital first strategy. Last summer, for the first time, ITV live streamed the official podcast, Love Island: The Morning After on ITVX and YouTube to give fans the added benefit of a live ‘watch-along’, which aired at the same time as the main launch show on ITV2. LiveU’s cloud video platform LiveU Studio streamlined the workflow between Majorca, where the main show is filmed, and London, home of the podcast.
Intelligent unified hybrid orchestration layers will enable broadcasters to go even further. This advanced technology rearchitects live production models giving more choice and increased flexibility and agility. Broadcasters will be better positioned to scale coverage, experiment with new formats, and meet audiences where they are – maintaining the high quality and standards of existing productions without increasing overheads .
For broadcast leaders, intelligent automation is no longer solely focused on efficiency; it’s about enabling scale without sacrificing control or quality.