AV1 is projected to triple its production footprint in 2026, while nearly 50% of video streaming professionals are evaluating the use of VPUs (Video Processing Units) in 2026. If history is any guide, then many of these planned technology deployments/evaluations will evaporate once budget allocations, device support, and engineering resources collide—delivering a brutal kick to the teeth for anyone who takes these numbers as gospel. These are two of the headline findings from Netint’s State of Video Encoding 2026 industry survey—a meaty piece of research that needs unpacking to best understand its value. The high-level view shows an industry at an inflection point between next-gen codecs, artificial intelligence, and hardware diversification, but aren’t all industry reports (especially the vendor-authored ones)…