The Future Landscape of Media and Entertainment

Emerging technologies and strategies in experiential entertainment, AI, streaming, linear TV, and sports content drive industry transformation.

Fremont, CA: The media and entertainment business is changing quickly due to intense rivalry and emerging technology. As companies work to draw in and profit from customer interaction in both digital and physical spaces, their business models and portfolios are changing.

Growing Interest in Experiential Entertainment: Experiential entertainment, which uses live events to bring franchise film and television IP to life, is becoming increasingly popular. This paradigm includes theme parks, branded entertainment areas, cruises, casinos, and live performances. It meets the rising demand from consumers for interactive and immersive experiences related to their favorite characters and tales. Businesses will develop their experiences or let partners access their content using pre-existing assets. High ticket sales revenue and healthy margins from licensing schemes, alluring food, merchandise, and other financial rewards are possible.

AI in the Spotlight: The use of AI in everyday applications is growing. Conventional applications like transaction and process automation are still crucial, but generative AI's (GenAI) quick growth will bring about big changes. GenAI will be used by businesses to increase monetization, scale-tailored marketing, improve content distribution, and speed up content creation. Enabling AI applications requires the organization and synthesis of massive data warehouses. As AI usage increases, proper risk governance and controls—such as fair use, safety, copyright standards, and talent compensation—become increasingly important.

Sustainable Streaming Profitability: Instead of suffering huge losses, streaming businesses are breaking even. Achieving long-term sustainability with industry-leading financial measures will be the primary goal. Growth in ad sales, price hikes, innovative bundling, reduction in content expenditures, and strict control over running costs are essential tactics. Leaders need to evaluate their place in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) industry to ascertain if they can generate long-term profitability. Marketers will be drawn to streaming services with a large user base and high levels of engagement, which will support a dual income stream model of advertising and subscription fees. Some businesses may need to consolidate through mergers & acquisitions or joint ventures to compete effectively.

The Future of Linear TV: Owning a linear TV has an unclear future. Although cord-cutting has caused a structural decrease in linear TV, the industry is profitable and produces cash flow to support streaming and other initiatives. Businesses must choose between keeping linear assets and actively controlling expenses or selling them. A successful sale might create a stand-alone operational strategy and confirm investor interest in linear TV assets.

Sports as Essential Content: Sports content is essential for streaming services since it increases viewer engagement and draws in advertisers. Businesses use sports betting programs and documentary-style productions to keep customers interested yearly. The rise of women's sports and new leagues further enhances the wide variety of sports programming. Sports fans, meanwhile, could be more satisfied with the disjointed and costly watching environment. To increase discoverability and viewability, businesses may introduce streaming bundles with a sports focus or incorporate applications.

The media and entertainment sector operates in a dynamic climate that presents possibilities and difficulties. Businesses that successfully implement their transformation agendas will be in a strong position.