Generative AI (GenAI) and traditional AI-ML will play a central role in reimagining growth, efficiency, and audience engagement in the media and entertainment (M&E) landscape.
AI-driven advancements are set to fuel growth, improve efficiencies, and enhance customer experiences across the M&E value chain. By enabling strategic decision-making, content generation, and audience personalization, AI is transforming every stage of the media workflow. The initial focus has been on cost efficiency and automation, but as AI capabilities expand, M&E companies will increasingly leverage AI for deeper value creation in areas such as business model innovation, revenue generation, and product differentiation.
AI’s impact will be felt across multiple fronts, from offering hyper-personalized content tailored to audience preferences to enhancing engagement through customized experiences. By augmenting production processes—such as scriptwriting, translation, voice dubbing, editing, and visual effects—AI can streamline workflows, reduce costs, and boost productivity. GenAI will also inspire creative innovation, producing everything from new genres in music to unique storytelling formats while advancing authenticity through content moderation and sentiment analysis. Further, AI will drive new monetization and innovation opportunities by creating differentiated products and data-driven insights for audience targeting. Finally, AI integration in VR and AR will enhance immersive experiences, blending digital and physical realms for more interactive audience engagement.
Advertising is set to dominate M&E revenue streams in 2025, projected to account for a significant amount of industry spending over the next five years.
AI-driven advertising innovations—such as free ad-supported television (FAST), dynamic ad insertion, and personalized, non-disruptive content—are transforming traditional models and enabling targeted campaigns across gaming and online platforms. With significant investments in areas like interactive and AI-driven ads, the convergence of gaming and advertising is emerging as a significant growth area, driving new opportunities for M&E enterprises. Advertising is currently one of the highest revenue earners in online video, and ads are also doing business in gaming (21% of its total).
Esports and cloud gaming are projected to be among the fastest-growing sectors in media and entertainment.
An expanding, gaming audience—especially younger demographics—who increasingly seek immersive, cross-platform experiences fuels this growth. AI is poised to enhance these experiences by hyper-personalizing content, enabling predictive analytics, and offering seamless interoperability across devices. This will transform gaming into a central hub for socialization, advertising, and media consumption.
Collaboration between telecom companies, streaming services, and AI-driven gaming technologies further opens new horizons for cross-monetization and cross-selling. With AI integrating metaverse capabilities, the sector is set to redefine engagement, offering brands a robust channel to reach and retain audiences in dynamic, immersive worlds.
AI-driven future of television
The television’s business and digital evolution will continue in the coming years with the introduction of connected smart TVs and other digital models.
The digital transformation in broadcasting is driven by a decline in linear TV subscriptions, cord cutting, and changing customer behaviors. Digitalization with innovative technology adaptation and digital transformation will be crucial for broadcasters to produce great content. They also need to ensure it reaches and is consumed by their desired target audience. Live, in-person, interactive-tech enabled events and experiences will drive content and revenues in TV and streaming.
TV broadcasters need to be open to exploring collaboration, partnerships, and suitable joint operating models and ecosystems with suitable partners, vendors and even competitors to remain competitive and to optimize costs. These alliances will help counter digital disruption and leverage AI-driven insights to stay relevant in a digitally dominant landscape. Some examples of AI-based interventions that would drive the future of TV would include AI-based automation in linear and digital TV workflows, personalized recommendations, AI partnership based newer business models, personalized ad insertions for FAST TV, and AI-embedded smart TVs.
As subscriber growth plateaus and competition intensifies, media and entertainment companies are turning to AI-driven innovation to rethink business models and diversify revenue streams.
Streaming platforms are evolving with AI-powered personalization, adaptive bitrate streaming, and enhanced multi-device compatibility to meet diverse audience needs. Subscription models are expanding to include ad-supported and hybrid options, while data analytics inform content creation, helping platforms curate high-demand, original programming. AI is also driving live streaming experiences, bundling services across video, music, and gaming, and optimizing content for 5G networks, which enables smoother, high-definition, and VR-ready playback. Building trust and combating misinformation remain crucial, underscoring AI’s role in moderating content and safeguarding user experience.