FROM THE INDUSTRY
(newly introduced for 2026), Outstanding HbbTV Advertising Campaign, the HbbTV Application Innovation Award, the HbbTV Enabling Technology Award and the HbbTV Rising Star Award. Entry is free, with a submission deadline of 18 September 2026. A jury of industry experts will select the winners: Rafael Bermúdez (3Cat), Ophélie Boucaud (Dataxis), Iva Dohnálková (TV Nova), Laura Gordon (Everyone TV), Vincent Grivet (HbbTV Association), Klaus Merkel (rbb/ ARD), Angelo Pettazzi (consultant) and Annamaria Recchia (Eutelsat). The Symposium is supported by co-host 3Cat, Diamond sponsor Eutelsat, Gold sponsors Backscreen, BMT, Didomi and TVekstra, and Silver sponsors the Addressable TV Initiative, MoMe, SES and Virtual Minds. SCTE is a media partner of the event.
The connected TV (CTV) industry will gather in Barcelona on 18-19 November 2026 for the 14th HbbTV Symposium and Awards, hosted by the HbbTV Association and 3Cat, Catalonia’s public media corporation. The event takes place at the four-star Catalonia Barcelona Plaza Hotel on Plaça d’Espanya, a central and well-connected location a short metro or bus ride from the city centre. With a track record of more than 40 years, co-host 3Cat integrates television, radio and digital content across a single platform, and brings a strong local perspective to a programme with global reach. The two-day format established in recent years returns to a traditional conference on day one and a participant- led unconference on day two, wrapped around an exhibition area and extensive networking. The Symposium targets a wide-ranging audience of platform operators, broadcasters, advertisers, adtech companies, standards bodies, regulators and technology vendors. A central theme this year is HbbTV’s role as a unifying framework in an increasingly fragmented CTV landscape, where broadcasters must navigate a multitude of operating systems and device environments. Conference sessions will examine how HbbTV-based audience measurement can enhance traditional panel systems with more granular, data-driven and even real-time insights; the latest developments in addressable advertising; and HbbTV’s growing adoption in new markets, with the MENA region and Asian countries embracing the open standard. The agenda also covers accessibility, natural-language interfaces powered by AI, deep personalisation, second-screen and XR-enhanced content, and new forms of interactive viewer engagement.
HbbTV Nation” from HbbTV Association Chair Vincent Grivet, and a specifications update from Vice-Chair Jon Piesing. Themed blocks then cover markets and measurement, TV beyond broadcast and the future of HbbTV applications, alongside
quickfire updates and roundtables. Individual talks range from SES on
delivering real-time audience measurement with HbbTV and Virtual Minds on merging linear and digital in Austria, to Cellnex Telecom on the evolution of Spain’s LOVEStv platform, the Digital TV Group on the UK’s broadcast-to-IP transition, and 3Cat on leveraging AI for HbbTV apps. The line-up features more than 20 international speakers, among them Guillaume Perrin (Dataxis), Michele Gosetti (SES), Ricarda Jebsen (Virtual Minds), Richard Lindsay-Davies (DTG), Orpheus Warr (Everyone TV) and Mika Kanerva (Sofia Digital). Communications consultant Eoghan O’Sullivan returns as Master of Ceremonies, a role he has held since 2023. On day two (19 November), the event adopts an unconference format in which attendees shape the agenda, proposing topics and leading breakout discussions in a collaborative, informal setting. First introduced in 2023, the format encourages open dialogue on real-world technical and business challenges, running parallel sessions across the day and closing with a plenary and the announcement of the 2027 Symposium co-host and location. Registration is open via the event website at hbbtv.org, where the full programme, speaker profiles and venue details are also published.
Building on Istanbul 2025
The Barcelona edition follows a successful 2025 Symposium in Istanbul. Held in November 2025 at the Swissôtel The Bosphorus and co-hosted with Turkish addressable advertising solutions provider TVekstra, the 13th edition underscored HbbTV’s global momentum. Europe passed the milestone of 100 million reachable homes earlier that year, while the MENA region added some 34 million reachable households. The winners of the HbbTV Awards 2025 included 3Cat, TVekstra, Everyone TV and BCi Digital for their outstanding achievements in accessibility, advertising, technology innovation, content discovery and HbbTV service delivery.
Awards, jury and sponsors
www.hbbtv.org
A highlight of the Symposium is the HbbTV Awards ceremony, staged on the evening of the first day, 18 November. The 2026 competition features five categories: Excellence in HbbTV Audience Measurement & Analytics
Conference and unconference
Melissa Cogavin and Dave Hodges will be attending the HbbTV Symposium and Broadband Journal are covering the event. See you there!
The conference day on 18 November opens with keynotes including “State of the
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