HbbTV Symposium In Istanbul Underscores Global Expansion

The 13th HbbTV Symposium and Awards, staged on 12–13 November in Istanbul, showcased the standard's accelerating worldwide uptake across Europe and further afield, with notable momentum in Turkey and the Middle East and North Africa.

Co-hosted by the HbbTV Association and Turkish addressable advertising specialist TVekstra, the event highlighted HbbTV's role as a common framework in an increasingly fragmented connected TV (CTV) market.

The programme gathered broadcasters, platform operators, manufacturers, technology and advertising service providers, and researchers for keynotes, presentations and roundtables. Discussions focused on fragmentation across more than a dozen operating systems; rapid advances in HbbTV-powered addressable advertising; audience measurement, analytics and consent management; opportunities around FAST channels; and how HbbTV and DVB-I underpin services in hybrid and IP‑only environments. Turkey’s market was singled out as a fast-evolving hub, featuring strong deployments, sophisticated ad-tech capabilities and an active innovation community.

The 8th HbbTV Awards on 12 November recognised achievements in advertising innovation, accessibility, content discovery, AI-driven applications and next-generation user experiences, with the winners’ entries underscoring the breadth and maturity of innovation across the global HbbTV ecosystem.

"This was probably our best Symposium yet – exceptional in its setting, content, engagement and the many new participants it attracted. Istanbul clearly showed how far HbbTV has expanded globally, with 34 million reachable homes in MENA adding to the 100-million milestone reached in Europe this year," said HbbTV Chairman Vincent Grivet. "The standard now goes well beyond the red button into advertising, measurement, analytics and consent solutions. In today’s highly fragmented CTV environment, HbbTV provides a unifying framework that allows a single application to run reliably across diverse operating systems and devices, reducing complexity, saving time and costs while improving efficiency."

Merve Eraslanoğlu, CEO, TVekstra, added: "HbbTV's Istanbul Symposium clearly demonstrated how rapidly the CTV ecosystem is maturing across the MENA region and how essential interoperable standards are to unlocking its full potential. For TVekstra, the event underscored the rising demand for transparent, scalable and privacy-first advertising solutions that work reliably across diverse platforms and devices. With millions of households now reachable and strong momentum from broadcasters and advertisers alike, the market is primed for meaningful transformation. We were proud to co-host an event that fostered collaboration, aligned industry expectations and set the foundation for the next stage of CTV growth in the region."

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