Trends GreenlightGO Is Seeing For Production Spaces in 2026
The way production teams use spaces has changed dramatically over the past several years. Remote workflows reshaped expectations, longstanding facilities closed their doors, and new forms of content created new demands for studios. Now, in 2026, we’re seeing another shift.
At GreenlightGO, our work gives us a close look at how production teams are searching for and using spaces. One thing is becoming clear: physical production spaces still matter, but what clients need from those spaces is changing.
Here are some of the biggest trends we’re seeing in 2026.
1. The Post-COVID Rebound Is Changing the Production-Space Landscape
3. Multipurpose Studios Are Becoming More Valuable
4. The Podcast Is Becoming The "Vodcast"
5. Production Space Isn’t Going Away, It’s Evolving
During and immediately after the pandemic, remote work reshaped production and post-production. Companies that had traditionally relied on offices, edit suites, and other physical facilities discovered that significant portions of the post-production process could happen remotely. That shift led some companies to rethink how much space they needed and how they used it.
In New York’s production community, those changes became tangible. Socialfly Studios, for example, allowed the lease on one of its two New York spaces to expire and converted its remaining office into a production studio designed around a more flexible working model.
Now, the industry is experiencing another shift as teams look for opportunities to work together in person again. “There’s an interesting rebound effect post-COVID,” says CJ Felux, GreenlightGO’s Client & Production Manager. But they’re returning to a production landscape that looks different from the one they left.
“The reality is we are now seeing that ripple effect,” says GreenlightGO CEO John Sobocinski. “Now people want to get back into these spaces, but a lot of the post-houses they traditionally would go to are now closed.”
With fewer familiar options available, finding the right production or post-production environment can be more challenging than it once was. At the same time, that shift creates an opportunity. Production companies with edit suites or other facilities that aren’t being used at full capacity have an incentive to make those spaces available to outside teams.
If you’ve noticed more camera crews blocking off sidewalks or spotted production trucks lined up along city blocks recently, you aren’t imagining it. Film and television production it's coming back to the East Coast. Driven by expanded state tax incentives, a surge in studio space, and the rapid rebound in hiring, both New York and New Jersey are emerging as a primary beneficiary of this industry shift.
In New York, legislative action to eliminate the cap on above-the-line qualified spending has fueled a multi-billion-dollar resurgence. According to Q2 2026 data from ProdPro:
This momentum is particularly visible in New York City, where NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Rafael Espinal noted that permit volumes have returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The influx of projects is pushing physical infrastructure and local labor to full capacity. A real estate study by CBRE revealed that soundstage inventory across the Tri-State area has expanded by 43% since 2020, bringing local motion picture employment back to 86% of pre-pandemic levels. The demand is so intense that new facilities are popping up to keep pace, such as Manhattan’s newly opened Sunset Pier 94 Studios, which quickly snagged Dexter: Resurrection as a main tenant.
Production teams today need studios that can adapt to the fast-changing demands of content creation, whether that means recording a podcast in the morning, producing social media content in the afternoon, or hosting a livestream in the evening. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a growing shift toward multipurpose studios that allow production companies to create different types of content without having to move between multiple locations.
A great example is the studio behind Hot Ones from First We Feast. Its design is built around flexibility and efficiency, using a stripped-back, black-box environment that can support multiple content formats from a single filming session. The same space can be used to:
The more a space can accommodate those different workflows, the more useful it becomes. And this flexibility can extend beyond equipment and infrastructure. As Sobocinski notes, offering “some scenic and some pre-existing sets” can be especially helpful for podcast and video clients in particular.
Rather than building every environment from scratch or moving between highly specialized facilities, production teams can use one adaptable location for multiple kinds of content. One example of this approach is Manhattan Beach Soundstage, a space listed on GreenlightGO that combines production capabilities with studio offices, equipment, and flexible spaces designed to support a range of production needs. Having these resources available under one roof allows teams to move between different stages of the production process without having to coordinate entirely separate facilities.
For studios, that creates an opportunity to think beyond square footage. Sets, production infrastructure, connectivity, acoustics, and the ability to reconfigure a space can all become part of its value proposition.
And nowhere is the convergence of production formats more obvious than podcasting.
The traditional image of a podcast as an audio-first production is increasingly incomplete. Video has become an important part of the format, and some productions are adopting workflows and equipment that look increasingly similar to traditional broadcast.
As Sobocinski puts it: “What used to be called a podcast is essentially a vodcast.”
In February 2025, YouTube announced that podcast content had surpassed 1 billion monthly active viewers, highlighting the growing demand for video-based podcast consumption. Unsurprisingly, in October 2025, Netflix announced a partnership with Spotify to bring 15 video podcast titles to its platform, including The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Zach Lowe Show, The Rewatchables, The Big Picture, The Dave Chang Show, and Serial Killers.
And this shift toward consuming podcasts visually shows no signs of slowing down. Netflix has continued expanding its podcast strategy through partnerships with companies such as Barstool Sports and iHeartRadio, while also developing podcast content around its own original series, including Bridgerton and One Piece.
For podcast producers, adding video is about more than simply giving audiences something to watch. A single recording can become a much larger content ecosystem. Video allows producers to:
A full-length episode can live on YouTube while shorter clips, behind-the-scenes moments, and memorable quotes can be repurposed across social platforms. This gives producers more opportunities to reach new audiences and maximize the content generated from a single recording without having to create an entirely separate production from scratch.
It is also important to note that podcast productions are now using the same kinds of gear found in broadcast environments, simply at a smaller scale. That evolution has implications for production spaces. A room that works well for audio recording alone may not necessarily meet the needs of a modern video podcast. Teams may also need cameras, lighting, visually appealing backgrounds or sets, control capabilities, and infrastructure that supports live or recorded video.
It’s another reason flexibility is becoming so important.
If the last several years demonstrated that a surprising amount of production work can happen remotely, 2026 is proving something else: there is still real value in having the right physical environment.
But “the right space” increasingly means something different.
Teams are returning to in-person environments while discovering that some of their former options no longer exist. Studios are finding opportunities to make underused facilities available to new clients. Multipurpose spaces are supporting an expanding mix of content formats. And the line between podcasts, livestreams, social content, and traditional video production continues to blur.
For production teams, that makes discovering the right space, and understanding what it can actually support, more important than ever.