MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS open to learning from other industries, media firms can improve workflows and operate more cost effectively. Other sectors have much to gain from the media industry’s creative and contentdriven expertise too, says Crownshaw. “Media has proved that speed, personalisation and platform agility are not luxuries,” he says. “They are the new cost of relevance in the industry – and not just for our sector but for others too. If you can tailor content experiences to millions of individuals, it’s incredibly meaningful. Personalisation is key to success. The industry has gone from producing content that just goes to the movie theatre to publishing it on platforms where it can be watched anywhere. However, this has meant that media firms have had to embrace data-driven storytelling and cloud-native production. Many platforms – like Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Netflix – use AI for personalisation to make sure the right content is served to viewers.” In order to provide personalised content experiences at scale, platform providers need to optimise their data by using Azure as a “creative engine room”, says Crownshaw. They can also use Microsoft Fabric to bring data into one platform and Copilot to turn that unified data into actionable insights. “Whether you’re a creator or marketer, the ability to generate localised content faster than ever, and by yourself without needing to rely on a vendor, is really powerful,” says Crownshaw. “This is enabling the industry to overcome its fragmented history. The understanding of not just what content to make, but also which audiences are going to experience that content, is fundamentally different. Multiplatform publishing is a critical element in the media and entertainment industry. At least 70 per cent of the content from a movie is also being driven by short-form content. Firms use AI to tell different narratives to get the message in front of different customers to achieve goals such as increasing box office sales.” This shift in content strategy is also reshaping who creates media and how it’s being used across industries. “More than 90 per cent of content today doesn’t just come from traditional media organisations, it is seen across every industry in one form or another,” explains Crownshaw. “The media industry has done really well at taking the elements of creativity where AI and data come together to demonstrate new types of content. The healthcare sector has followed our lead to create a wealth of video content that explains medical procedures and processes – and there’s no reason other industries couldn’t do the same to educate, engage and inspire their audiences too.” This evolution in content creation goes hand in hand with a broader shift in how media companies integrate enterprise systems to drive smarter, more connected workflows. “The smartest media companies don’t treat enterprise or media as separate worlds, they unify them,” says Crownshaw. “If enterprise systems can connect with content workflows, organisations will be able to truly understand what’s going on. They will be able to optimise advert inventory, search for new talent or reduce production costs. If I were to summarise what I’ve seen over the past six months, it would be that enterprise is not just for those internal decision makers anymore – it is helping to fuel storytelling, audience strategy, personalised experiences and more. When you’re in such a competitive industry, every dollar counts, so enterprise systems need to be more integrated with the content workflow.” “The smartest media companies don’t treat enterprise or media as separate worlds, they unify them” 137 Photo: iStock/gorodenkoff/James Pardon/BBC Studios/Disney/Bad Wolf
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