IBC showcases AI-enabled localisation and how it can grow TV audiences
Content localisation, including subtitling and dubbing, or even multi-language commentary for live sport, is increasingly valuable in a global content economy, and AI is making this process more economical.
The result could be greater consumption of premium TV and streaming content across more markets.
The opportunity this creates for content producers and broadcasters – and the benefits of improved accessibility, like audio description and sign language – are being showcased at IBC 2026.
Ahead of the exhibition, 3Play Media has warned broadcasters and platform operators that the audiences they want to reach globally are being trained, right now, to expect AI-dubbed content, thanks to its widespread use on YouTube.
The company also claims consumers welcome AI voices when they are done well.
The message to the ‘traditional’ TV industry is: use this technology yourself, or others will expand audience reach at your expense.
“For years, the media and entertainment industry has hesitated to use AI-voiced dubbing due to concern for audience experience,” it says. “Our data shows that audiences are already engaged with AI-dubbing on a massive scale on YouTube.”
3Play Media’s co-founder and co-CEO Chris Antunes states: “YouTube creators are not dubbing on faith; they are following the data. Audiences are choosing and engaging with AI-dubbed content.”
According to him, the question is not whether audiences will accept AI-enabled dubbing, but how much content that was previously kept in its original language – due to the costs of localisation – can now be taken to new audiences using this technology.
3Play Media is demonstrating its dubbing solutions at IBC, the annual gathering of the TV tech industry, from September 11–14 in Amsterdam.
Humans in the loop
The company emphasises that humans stay in the loop in its AI dubbing workflows. “Trained linguists shape voice, tone, timing, and cultural adaptation throughout the process, not just as a check at the end of it.
“That integration of expert human review is the reason the AI-voiced dub sounds right.”
Broadcasters serve a potentially more demanding audience than YouTube, at least in terms of production quality, and 3Play Media claims AI voices will meet their performance requirements.
Another company harnessing AI for localisation is Lingopal, with its IBC focus on translating live sports commentary into synthetic voices in multiple languages, plus other forms of AI-enabled dubbing, captioning and subtitles.
Lingopal’s CEO Casey Schneider (pictured above) agrees that the conversation is moving beyond whether to use AI for localisation to how much you can use it, how many more markets you can reach, and how you measure the impact in each market.
“Our latest advances help every piece of content work harder for rights holders,” he declares.
Referring to his company’s AI translation solutions, he says they deliver new subscription, advertising, and sponsorship revenue, while [in the case of dubbing] preserving the voice, energy, and emotion that made the content compelling.
“Real-time AI translation is changing the economics of localisation,” Casey adds. “Some of the biggest sports and streaming platforms are proving that multilingual content can be created cost-effectively at scale through AI.”
Lingopal works with sports leagues, broadcasters, streaming services, enterprises, plus education and faith-based organisations to help them expand audience reach and also improve accessibility.
Like 3Play Media, the company is also working with the creator community.
Lingopal has been used by Flow Inc., part of the Brazilian podcast studio Grupo Flow, as a localisation partner to translate live content from popular creators Igor Coelho and Paula Vialta, for example.
Increased viewer engagement
Lingopal says customers have driven measurable improvements in viewer engagement, time-to-market and cost reduction by using its AI localisation solutions. It says one regional sports network saw a 23% increase in average watch time after introducing local language support for new markets.
A national news network achieved a 78% faster video-on-demand (VOD) dubbing turnaround, it reports.
Lingopal supports text-to-speech and speech-to-speech translation, including in real-time. The company is extending its coverage to more than 130 languages.
At IBC, Lingopal will showcase its live AI dubbing – with sub-10 second latency – for sports, news, and events. “This enables media organisations to turn primary feeds into multiple language outputs for global distribution,” the company notes.
The company also introduced a new analytics feature called Signal that lets users measure translation performance across languages and content types. It lets customers evaluate localisation output quality across crucial KPIs, including text-to-speech naturalness, background noise, and voice complexity, quality, and clarity.
Delegates can also hear about VOD localisation so media companies can translate and prepare media libraries and archives en masse for extended market reach. This includes translation for use in short-form social media clips, plus mobile-optimised caption format options.
Another area where AI could benefit consumers (and therefore media owners who want bigger audiences to watch longer) is sign language. One of the IBC2026 Innovation Awards finalists is a workgroup led by G&L Systemhaus, involving AI company Signapse, software company Norsk/id3as, and CDN provider Akamai, to build a broadcast-grade, AI-powered sign language solution for live and on-demand streaming.
The IBC2026 Innovation Awards recognise collaborative projects that solve real-world challenges and demonstrate outstanding advances across the media, entertainment and technology industry. Awards are available for content creation and distribution initiatives, as well as those with strong (positive) social impact.