We’re now more than four years into the AI revolution, yet for many enterprises, the transformative success they envisioned has remained elusive. Why? Because they haven’t unlocked the true potential of their data.
Many companies are unknowingly sitting on veritable gold mines, vast troves of data that are fragmented, unstructured, and siloed across disparate systems. In 2026, advancements in technology will enable them to leverage this data for entirely new purposes, uncovering revenue streams they might not have thought possible.
Here are three pivotal ways AI will empower organizations to turn their archives and assets into unprecedented growth opportunities in the coming year and beyond.
1. Enterprises will go back to the basics with data and unlock the hidden value in their archives
As enterprises have scrambled to implement AI to drive efficiencies and innovation, many are discovering that the journey is much harder than anticipated. It turns out that simply integrating AI into workflows isn’t enough; the foundation—enterprise data—is often not prepared to support these sophisticated systems. In 2026, many enterprises are expected to recognize this reality and refocus on fundamentals. They’ll focus on transforming their data into a more governed and machine-ready state, ensuring AI systems can analyze, learn from, and act upon it effectively.
In doing so, businesses may begin to uncover the immense untapped value of the data they’ve been sitting on for years—sometimes decades. Vast repositories of video, audio, images, and documents, previously scattered across systems, are increasingly being viewed as potential strategic assets. This isn’t just about organization; it’s about making data “machine-ready” by enriching it, labeling it, and ensuring it can be analyzed and processed by AI.
The result? Data will no longer be viewed as a stagnant archive or a cost center. Instead, it will become one of the most valuable assets a company owns. Revitalized archives will fuel growth, drive operational efficiencies, and serve as the foundation for entirely new ways of working.
2. Businesses will begin to leverage their content to drive revenue in new ways
As organizations begin to get their archives in a machine-ready state, they’ll start uncovering entirely new possibilities for leveraging this data for revenue. Looking ahead to 2026, industry observers expect the emergence of new content ecosystems driven by AI. Organizations will begin to use their archives to generate synthetic content at scale. For example, decades of stored video data could potentially be transformed into immersive experiences, training datasets, or even entirely new types of media.
In the sports and live media industries, this trend may prove particularly transformative. Fans are increasingly demanding short-form, social-ready content in real time. But production bottlenecks often stand in the way of this immediacy, and many broadcasters have struggled to incorporate new technologies into legacy systems.
In the coming year, some organizations are expected to begin adopting new AI-powered platforms that overcome these hurdles, enabling faster content clipping, tagging, and distribution in near real time. New efficiencies will also improve localization and commentary options, ensuring content resonates with diverse audiences around the globe.
Beyond content creation, media businesses will also find ways to monetize their archives by providing them to AI developers. AI companies are starving for authentic content for model training and fine-tuning, and forward-looking organizations with extensive video, audio, and image libraries may find opportunities to license their media for use in model development. This approach not only generates new revenue streams but can create additional revenue streams while contributing to the development of more relevant and capable AI systems.
3. Tokenization of real-world assets will begin to take off
One of the most innovative shifts on the horizon is the tokenization of real-world assets into data. Just as metaverse avatars represent people digitally, we’ll see physical assets—such as real estate, products, or even manufacturing data—begin to be represented in tokenized, digital formats. This tokenization will enable companies to quantify and trade assets in entirely new ways, blurring the lines between the physical and digital worlds.
While tokenization hasn’t yet taken off in a meaningful way due to inconsistent definitions and standards across industries, this is poised to change in 2026. As standardization emerges, businesses will begin to develop new revenue streams around the digitization of physical assets. Platforms will enable organizations to convert real-world assets into digital representations that can be monetized or exchanged. The applications will be vast, spanning areas including licensing, data-driven commerce, and even new marketplaces tied to digital assets.
This trend will cement data as a core component of the global economy, with tokenized assets offering businesses a new way to generate and measure value. As this ecosystem matures, it will enable industries to operate more efficiently, transparently, and innovatively.
The foundations for future leadership
We’re rapidly approaching a tipping point. Businesses that want to lead the charge in 2026 and beyond must go all in on their efforts to lay their groundwork today. That means taking a hard look at their data and archives—refining, governing, tagging, and embedding rights and permissions to ensure their content is ready for the skyrocketing demand from both consumers and AI companies. Without this foundation, opportunities to monetize archives and innovate at scale could easily pass them by.
At the same time, companies should lean into emerging systems like tokenization. As standards take shape, those who adapt now can be at the forefront of a new economy where physical assets are digitized and traded like never before.
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