AI-Powered Media & Entertainment: Transforming Revenue Models & D2C Strategies
AI-Powered Media & Entertainment: Transforming Revenue Models & D2C Strategies
The media and entertainment landscape is experiencing a fundamental transformation.
After decades of relatively stable business models, industry leaders now find themselves navigating a complex environment with subscriptions, content inflation, and shifting viewer expectations demanding more sophisticated approaches to monetisation and distribution.
Our research, drawing from in-depth interviews with senior media executives across major organisations and targeted polling of industry leaders, reveals a clear message: traditional revenue and distribution models must evolve significantly to match today's market dynamics.
The data tells a compelling story.
Competition for viewer attention emerged as the most significant challenge facing streaming platforms (67%), while hybrid subscription/advertising models were identified as showing the most promise for revenue diversification (67%). Channel 4 demonstrates the digital transition underway, with 30% of their revenue now coming from digital channels—triple the industry average of 10%.
Meanwhile, content owners are increasingly exploring direct relationships with audiences. As Marco Berkheij from Red Bee Media notes, "Content owners are primarily motivated by financial considerations when exploring direct-to-consumer models. They believe they can generate more revenue and maintain greater control over their content."
Meanwhile, content owners are increasingly exploring direct relationships with audiences. Marco Berkheij from Red Bee Media notes,
“Content owners are primarily motivated by financial considerations when exploring direct-to-consumer models. They believe they can generate more revenue and maintain greater control over their content.”
Key challenges emerging from our research include:
Balancing subscription and advertising revenue streams in hybrid models
Creating bundle partnerships that increase retention and perceived value
Developing discovery experiences that combine algorithms with editorial judgement
Leveraging AI to transform production economics without compromising quality
Finding the optimal balance between direct and traditional distribution
Making technology investments that enable innovation while delivering clear ROI
The media industry stands at a pivotal crossroads.
As artificial intelligence reshapes content creation, distribution and consumption, organisations face both unprecedented challenges and extraordinary opportunities. The strategic reset required encompasses multiple dimensions: transforming content from linear text to structured knowledge components, developing IP frameworks for the AI era, balancing automation with editorial judgment, and creating multi-faceted monetisation approaches.
Key challenges emerging from our research include:
- Transforming unstructured content into structured knowledge components
- Maintaining temporal context and factual accuracy in AI-mediated discovery
- Developing rights frameworks that address emerging AI use cases
- Balancing technological innovation with clear business objectives
- Creating governance structures that bridge editorial and technical functions
- Designing new content formats that meet evolving user needs
- Building strategic partnerships that expand reach while maintaining control
This Market View publication brings together insights from media leaders representing some of the industry's most forward-thinking organisations. Their experiences, combined with our survey data, provide a roadmap for transforming revenue models and distribution strategies to match the needs of tomorrow's audiences.
As you explore how to navigate this evolving landscape, we hope these insights provide both validation for your current initiatives and fresh perspectives on achieving sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive environment.
Connect with us and let's shape the media's future together.
Globant is a digitally native company that helps organizations reinvent themselves and unleash their potential. They bring innovation, design and engineering together at scale to create impactful solutions. Globant specializes in digital strategy, design, and development, leveraging cutting-edge technologies and trends. With their agile pods methodology and commitment to innovation, Globant is a trusted partner for top brands looking to lead their industries in the digital landscape. They create digital transformations using disruptive technologies like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing. Major clients include Google, EA, and Disney. Globant bridges the gap between design and engineering to develop innovative software products. Overall, Globant helps global organizations reinvent themselves digitally.
Globant-UK@globant.com