Breaking the DAM: From AI to Tangible Revenue Opportunities (Part 2)

Summary: 

• The media and broadcast industry faced numerous challenges in 2023, including strikes disrupting production and shifting towards alternative viewing options, while demand for fresh content remained high.
• Transformation in media management, leveraging AI, is crucial for organizations to thrive. Examples include auto-tagging live content for better distribution and repurposing broadcast content for increased revenue opportunities.
• AI is not just a buzzword; it drives tangible business impact by optimizing operations, enhancing content creation, and enabling revenue generation through improved audience engagement and licensing opportunities.

In the last blog, we highlighted how the media and broadcast industry faced a whirlwind of challenges in 2023, from prolonged strikes disrupting content production to streaming services grappling with slower subscriber growth and soaring costs. Despite these obstacles, the demand for fresh content remained insatiable, leading to a simple conclusion. The need for innovation in content management and distribution has never been more imperative, now and for the future. With AI, organizations can redefine their operations, rediscover media they didn’t know they had, and extract new value. In this blog, we’ll discuss how brands can reimagine how they create content and reconnect with audiences while driving revenue growth. 

Media Management Transformation

As discussed in the last blog, transforming media management is the first step for most companies. While some may not be fully prepared to adopt AI (which is why they should consult an experienced AI solutions and service provider), others will be better positioned to transform this part of their business. But what does that actually look like?

The Nürburgring 24 Hours, like many other sports events, have hours upon hours of live media and broadcast content they need to capture, store, and distribute to stakeholders. Consolidating these live feeds by ingesting them into a DAM environment with AI capabilities means they can auto-tag this content, control access, and obtain 100% visibility into their archive. That means grassroots teams, automakers, and the media can search and find more relevant content quickly, expediting production hours for downstream marketing opportunities that can grow the sport through audience engagement and attracting new sponsors. While this is a complex example, traditional broadcast platforms can utilize a similar approach to engaging with audiences and potential advertisers. 

The Linear Broadcast Opportunity

The last few years have been an immense struggle for the traditional broadcast sector. Between cord-cutting and turning to digital advertising channels, TV and radio broadcasters continue to combat a shifting landscape. But while that sounds bleak, there’s a silver lining. Sports remains a significant holdout for TV, and the radio industry has an opportunity to win back ad revenue as ad spending growth is projected to accelerate this year.  But to do that, stations need the right tools to prove their value. 

With AI tracking and tagging broadcast content, stations can pull airchecks faster and verify brand mentions and integrations. Such was the case for WSCR, known as 670 The Score in the Chicago Area, which was able to win nearly 100K in new business by providing faster and seamless airchecks. In addition to airchecks, stations can then take their captured broadcasts and repurpose that content for other channels, such as social media. With the advent of synthetic voice and generative AI capabilities, stations can take it a step further by localizing broadcasts to reach even more audiences and new markets in different languages.  

But that’s only half the story. Stations can also correlate an ad to the web lift an advertiser receives, providing proof-of-performance metrics to win back ad revenue. Using lift data, Hubbard St. Louis won a 70K renewal by providing the data that builds the necessary confidence that a campaign is performing. As the industry continues to evolve because of digitization, radio stations now more than ever need a means to protect their advertising revenues. Through the power of AI, they can better prove their value to retain and win back ad dollars. 

What We Mean by Breaking the DAM

As these case studies illustrate, AI is not a buzzword. It provides tangible business impact. But that’s if you are willing to break down the “dams” holding back the downstream revenue opportunities that drive growth, especially as organizations try to accomplish more with less with all the industry disruptions. Part of the challenge is becoming AI-ready and then implementing it in a way that optimizes operations to get to the revenue AI can help drive. AI-revenue generation is twofold: smoothing operations so that organizations can gain control over their data to reimagine how they create content and use existing media to reconnect with audiences and, second, making their content more accessible, expanding its reach and resonance by licensing it to interested parties. 

Partnering with Airspeeder, the world’s first VTOL crewed racing series for electric flying cars, Veritone, in partnership with base, is showcasing how AI can drive revenue opportunities by licensing their valuable media archive and helping them take this content to grow the sport. With proven expertise in the space with US Soccer and other licensing partners, AI is becoming more than an efficiency driver; it is becoming a tool that can be used to create new fanbases and establish sustainable revenue. 

What AI Means for Media Management and Creation

Deploying AI capabilities in content creation has helped organizations innovate with their existing content investments and reimagine how they create new forms of engaging media. AI Voice, for instance, as seen with Cameo, has created a fun, new way to engage with fans. With generative AI, brands can scale how they navigate their media, repurpose old content, and create new assets from their archive. 

With the NAB Show in our rearview mirrors, now is the perfect time to understand how to use AI today. Find out what you missed at NAB and learn about all the exciting ways AI is transforming the industry.

Find out what you missed at NAB

Sources: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethkindig/2023/12/27/ad-spending-growth-to-accelerate-in-2024/