The HbbTV Association is pleased to announce that the 14th HbbTV Symposium and Awards will be held on 18-19 November 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. This year’s edition of the connected TV industry’s leading annual summit will take place at the Catalonia Barcelona Plaza, a landmark four-star hotel and conference venue situated directly on Plaça d’Espanya. The event will be co-hosted with 3Cat, Catalonia’s public broadcaster.
The Symposium will follow the established two-day structure.
The opening day will present a conference programme with keynotes, presentations and roundtables. A central theme will be 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. The agenda will also explore how HbbTV-based audience measurement can enhance traditional panel systems by providing more granular, data-driven and even real-time insights, supporting broadcasters’ need for accurate and scalable analytics. Further sessions will highlight the latest developments in addressable advertising and examine HbbTV’s growing adoption in new markets, with the MENA region and Asian countries now embracing the open standard.
The programme will also feature sessions on accessibility, natural-language interfaces powered by AI, and the collaborative potential of HbbTV as a shared framework for broadcasters, technology providers, and manufacturers. Emerging audiovisual experiences will also be explored, including deep personalisation through AI, gaming on connected TV platforms, second screen and XR-enhanced content, and new forms of interactive viewer engagement.
The evening of the first day will feature the prestigious HbbTV Awards ceremony, celebrating outstanding achievements, services, and innovations across the global HbbTV community. The second day of the event will adopt an unconference format, allowing participants to propose topics, lead discussions, and collaborate in an informal and highly interactive environment.
“We are delighted to bring the 14th HbbTV Symposium and Awards to Barcelona, a city renowned for creativity, innovation, and technological ambition. Broadcasters worldwide are navigating a rapidly evolving connected TV landscape marked by fragmentation, new competitors, and shifting viewer habits. HbbTV provides a unifying, broadcaster-friendly framework that enables innovation, protects data ownership, and supports advanced services such as addressable advertising, enriched content, and real-time audience measurement. This year’s programme will showcase how collaboration across the ecosystem can unlock new opportunities for all players,” said Vincent Grivet, Chair of the HbbTV Association.
Natalia Prats, CTO, 3Cat, added: “We are proud to co-host this year’s Symposium in Barcelona. As a public broadcaster committed to public value services like accessibility, linguistic diversity, and technological innovation, we see HbbTV as a powerful enabler of new user experiences. From natural-language interfaces to interactive services and next-generation accessibility features, HbbTV allows us to serve all audiences while strengthening collaboration with industry partners.”
The event also offers sponsorship opportunities for companies wishing to promote and exhibit their brand and services to an international, top-level CTV audience.
A detailed overview of the available packages can be downloaded here:
About the HbbTV Association
Hybrid broadcast broadband TV (or “HbbTV”) is a global initiative developing a specification enabling the delivery of advanced and interactive TV and entertainment services to consumers through a combined use of both broadcast and broadband networks. The HbbTV specification is developed by industry leaders to improve the video experience of consumers on connected TV sets, set-top boxes and multiscreen devices. The HbbTV specification uses elements of existing specifications from other standards including OIPF, CEA, DVB, MPEG-DASH and W3C. With the incorporation of activities from the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) in 2014 and Smart TV Alliance in 2016, HbbTV is able to address service providers and technology suppliers for IPTV services as well as the combined scope of broadcast and over-the-top (OTT) services.
HbbTV is organised as a non-profit association registered in Switzerland and has around 80 members which include all global TV manufacturers, the large European broadcasters and TV platforms as well as a vast array of global technology and chipset vendors.
About 3Cat
3Cat is Catalonia’s public media corporation with a reputation for excellence in producing and broadcasting audiovisual content in Catalan. With a track record of more than 40 years, it is an industry leader thanks to a crosscutting offering that integrates television, radio and digital content on our 3Cat platform. TV3 has been the leading television channel in Catalonia for the past 16 years, the 3Cat platform is the third most-used digital platform among Catalans, and Catalunya Ràdio continues to grow, closing 2025 with the highest audience figures in its history.
Throughout our history, we have created thousands of high-quality productions – shows, series, documentaries, films and children’s content – many of which have won national and international awards. This constant commitment to innovation and creativity has established us as a key player on the European audiovisual scene.
In 2025 3Cat made more than 160 new productions, including documentaries, fiction, entertainment and animation programmes, many of which premiered on major TV channels and in cinemas. This figure reaffirms our commitment to the growth of the industry and our role as an audiovisual content factory across all formats and genres in Catalonia.
3Cat is committed to innovative projects with global reach, connecting with audiences of all ages and beyond our borders. Through strategic agreements with production companies, we have driven forward hundreds of projects that have found financing and international visibility, contributing to establishing a strong, competitive and globalised audiovisual sector.
3Cat offers content that transcends borders, reflects our culture and connects with the world.
Info: https://www.hbbtv.org/14th-hbbtv-symposium-and-awards-2026 & www.hbbtv.org & www.3cat.cat
Notes: Press Release | HbbTV Association | Geneva, May 2026
