Futuresource Consulting has confirmed that its flagship one-day event will return to London on Wednesday 11 November 2026, bringing together the industry’s leading voices at the Ham Yard Hotel for a day of insight, debate and high-value networking.

Nearly three-quarters of headphone buyers have a retail brand in mind before they begin researching their next purchase. That’s according to new primary consumer research from Futuresource Consulting, which highlights how much of the decision process now happens long before formal research begins.

New research from Futuresource Consulting shows that schools across the UK and Germany are entering a decisive refresh phase, with computing devices firmly at the top of the investment agenda. For OEMs and device vendors, the next two years represent a structural opportunity, but only for those aligned with how schools are really buying. 

The boundary between broadcast and Pro AV is dissolving. Cameras, switchers and virtual sets that once lived only in OB trucks and TV studios are now turning up in lecture theatres, corporate town halls and houses of worship. This isn’t a side story to the broadcast market; it’s one of the main growth narratives for professional video.

If you track the headline numbers, the story for touring and rental looks straightforward. The global touring and rental loudspeaker market reached around $574 million in 2024, and is forecast to climb to about $760 million by 2029. Unit volumes rise from roughly 180,000 boxes to the high two-hundreds of thousands over the same period. On paper, live sound is the growth engine of professional loudspeakers.

Walk into almost any new-build commercial or leisure venue today and one thing sits quietly behind the walls: the audio lives on the network. What started as a premium option for flagships has rapidly become the default design assumption. For consultants and architects, the question is no longer whether to specify networked audio, but how far to lean into it and how it will underpin the next wave of immersive experiences.

The professional AV (Pro AV) industry is at a pivotal moment. The shift from traditional AV to AV over IP (AVoIP) workflows is no longer a question of "if," but "when." Futuresource Consulting's analysis reveals a powerful paradox: end-user sentiment toward AVoIP is overwhelmingly positive, yet the market experienced a 15% dip in 2024. While many are eager to invest, a combination of macroeconomic pressures, security concerns, and—most significantly—market fragmentation is slowing the pace of adoption. This is a story of promise tempered by pragmatism, where the future is undeniably IP-based, but the path to get there is still being paved.

For much of the last decade, workplace collaboration was defined by flexibility. Bring your own device. Join from anywhere. Use whichever platform makes sense at the time.

That flexibility isn’t disappearing. But as organisations move into the next phase of hybrid work, a counter-trend is becoming increasingly clear: standardisation is back on the agenda.

As AI accelerates across the collaboration ecosystem, the previously plain meeting room is undergoing its most significant architectural shift in more than a decade.  What began as simple AI tools—virtual backgrounds, noise suppression, meeting transcription—has now begun to migrate into the meeting room itself.  In 2026, the conversation is no longer about if edge AI will matter in such environments, but how it will reshape meeting room technology and the very definition of a “smart meeting space”.

Futuresource Consulting’s ISE 2026 post-show report reveals a Pro AV market moving decisively away from hype cycles and hardware theatre, and towards operational maturity, ecosystem strategy and IT-governed infrastructure. 

The official theme of Bett 2026, Learning Without Limits, ran throughout the agenda and the exhibition halls, closely tied to AI, inclusion, accessibility and future skills. While artificial intelligence remained a dominant presence, Futuresource’s analysis highlights a more practical tone than in previous years.

On 11th February, Sky announced that Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and Hayu will all be included in one Sky TV subscription. This is being positioned as a world first move and starts from £24 per month. It brings the biggest streaming services together in one place and fully integrates them across Sky Stream, Sky Glass and Sky Q. 

Futuresource Consulting today announces the launch of its Screen Trends & Market Insights Service, a transformative evolution of its long-established video and entertainment intelligence offering established video and entertainment intelligence offering. -established video and entertainment intelligence offering. Designed to meet the fast-shifting needs of today’s content, distribution and platform industries, the new service provides -on access-time market intelligence

Futuresource Consulting is excited to announce the launch of its new free quarterly webinar series, created to help industry leaders navigate the rapidly shifting dynamics of consumer behaviour, platform evolution, and content strategy within the streaming ecosystem.