The Media and Entertainment Industry Heading towards a New Digital Era

The move towards digitalization to achieve transformative businesses and operating models are opening the door to a vast range of opportunities for the media and entertainment industry.

FREMONT, CA: The modern consumer’s growing affinity to digital platforms is forcing the media and entertainment industry to rethink older paradigms of entertainment consumption and revenue generation. There were days when entertainment options available to the customers were limited to the single-screen movie theatre. But over the years, the use of media and entertainment has changed drastically. Modern customers are experiencing the rise of social media, online news, streaming, and digital video firsthand. The contemporary landscape of media is very different than it was back then – and the coming years will see even more prolific changes. Read on to know the ways companies can respond to the shifting environment.

· Evolving Business Model

Disruption is creating a whirl on the media and entertainment industry, powering the invention and rapid expansion of new business models. Consumers are expecting media and entertainment providers of all sorts to deliver varied choices, convenience, and value along with personalized, customized experiences that are available on-demand and on multiple of platforms that too with limited advertising and robust data protection.

· Adapting to New Realities

Increasing competition for viewers and advertisers combined with declines in subscribers is putting significant pressure on leading media and entertainment companies. Besides, costs are escalating, especially in the critical areas of content and talent. The motto of cost reduction has become the priority for management teams, and the solution today has become more holistic and simple. The media and entertainment companies require new levels of operational excellence and strategic expense reduction that delivers long term efficiencies and results.

· Empowered Customers

In the traditional model, creativity, distribution, and monetization were linear, and for the most part, the consumers were passively waiting for content that is made available at ’provider’s convenience. Digitalization has created a new world that is more disintermediated, complex, and dynamic. As a consequence, media and entertainment consumers are more empowered. They have steadily rising expectations around how products and services should be delivered. Now consumers expect personalized experiences across their daily life, including mobility and financial services to communications and entertainment.

· Mitigating Cyber Risks

Every click, download, and view of customers results in a massive amount of data being created every day. This enormous amount of data offers media and entertainment companies a real competitive advantage along with a magnet for cybercriminals. To tackle this situation, media and entertainment companies need to identify and prioritize the assets that matter most to the organization and improve processes to plan to protect, detect, and respond to cyber threats. Considering the impact of security breaches and developing a supplemental plan addressing the potential gaps can always come to help. Besides developing a continuous improvement plan that enables management of change efficiently and effectively will add benefits.

· Offering Best Content

The rapid proliferation of video distribution platforms and a corresponding uplift in engagement metrics, subscription fees, advertising revenue — or a combination — has created an intensely competitive landscape for developing and acquiring the best content. With so much content available across many channels, media and entertainment companies need to revamp their strategies to provide consumers with compelling content. It is expected that artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies will be leveraged by the forms to dissect viewing patterns from multiple perspectives to build personalized recommendations into consumers’ digital interaction. 

· International Operations

Globalization is critical to companies looking to build scale, open new markets, and remain competitive. The world sees the rise of economic nationalism and the prospect of higher trade barriers, at the same time, a suite of enabling digital technologies is rendering borders less relevant. Today’s media and entertainment companies must be more open than ever to the opportunities of growing their international operations.

The impact of new technologies in the media and entertainment industry is undeniable. So with this transformative move media and entertainment providers must more readily pursue opportunities outside traditional studios and distribution channels.