AI was the hot topic at the 2024 NAB Show, drawing attention for its promise to bring significant transformation to the media and entertainment industry. The atmosphere was charged with a mix of excitement and apprehension as show attendees grappled with the implications of AI’s expanding role. The anticipation of massive changes, driven by AI, left a lasting impression, underscoring the industry’s keen interest in navigating this new technological landscape.
SymphonyAI kicked off the event by announcing the SymphonyAI Media copilot, a new AI tool that uses generative and predictive AI for AI-driven insights, transforming how media organizations analyze, manage, and drive content monetization. Aimed at improving distribution and identifying incremental revenue opportunities, the SymphonyAI Media copilot is a powerful new solution for optimizing monetization in today’s fragmented media ecosystem.
Closing the AI Gap in Media and Entertainment
AI technology has been rapidly adopted for certain use cases in the media and entertainment industry, most notably content production, post-production, and distribution. The 2024 NAB Show agenda included fully dedicated workshops on AI-powered solutions for both video and visual effects creation.
Fewer media and entertainment organizations use AI as a tool to strategically monetize content. Barriers to adoption include a lack of AI tools built specifically for B2B use cases, and uncertainty around how companies’ proprietary data will be used to train models available from widespread consumer-facing AI tools. Furthermore, the limited data that content sellers receive from streaming services can constrain their efforts to analyze metrics such as content performance and viewership trends. Addressing these underlying business challenges has proven to be a daunting challenge for AI providers.
However, the tide is beginning to turn. A select group of technology leaders joined SymphonyAI in Microsoft’s NAB Innovation Zone to showcase AI offerings specifically designed to optimize content monetization. From AI-powered ad insertion and AI-enhanced immersive viewing experiences to AI-driven content insight, NAB attendees were presented with a glimpse of what AI’s potential role can be in optimizing monetization.
The Vision for AI in Media
SymphonyAI developed the Media copilot with a clear goal: to provide media organizations with accurate, actionable, AI-driven insight for faster, smarter decision-making. In the rapidly evolving media landscape, the ability to quickly and accurately analyze performance data across various platforms is critical. The SymphonyAI Media copilot addresses this need with a natural language, chat-based AI tool that transforms insight generation, responding to the industry’s need for greater content performance insight.
What is the SymphonyAI Media Copilot?
The SymphonyAI Media copilot was built following SymphonyAI’s unique B2B AI software strategy and the media division’s industry expertise. That is, integrating cutting-edge horizontal AI technology—specifically SymphonyAI’s Eureka Gen AI platform—with industry-specialized models, large language model (LLM), skills, knowledge graphs, data sources and more, all tailored and optimized for the media content monetization use case.
The SymphonyAI Media copilot is a module that seamlessly integrates into SymphonyAI’s industry-leading Revedia data management software for media and entertainment. The Media copilot’s generative and predictive AI capabilities help to overcome the error-prone, manual processes traditionally required to analyze and forecast content performance. Through its chat-based interface integrated directly into Revedia, the Media copilot responds to user questions with AI insight. Example prompts include:
- “Show me the revenue associated with my FAST channels this month.”
- “What AVOD assets have generated the most revenue in the last year?”
- “What is my fastest growing content genre in terms of monthly views?”
- “Which platforms will generate the most revenue for me next quarter?”
- “Which services have the fastest growing audience for subtitled content?”
- “When do each of my current platform agreements expire?”
- “What police dramas do I have available to sell now?”
Who is the SymphonyAI Media Copilot for?
The SymphonyAI Media copilot overcomes the revenue barriers of a complex content ecosystem by transforming fragmented data into cohesive, in-depth, immediate insight. The SymphonyAI Media copilot’s powerful, accessible AI enables companies that create, acquire, and distribute content to:
- Analyze and report on content and distributor performance to optimize business
- Forecast content performance across diverse platforms and monetization models
- Predict content demand and identify future content monetization opportunities
Using a natural language interface and based on an LLM specially designed for the media industry and built to be accessible to business users without data analytics expertise, the SymphonyAI Media copilot generates insight that can be used by executives and other professionals engaged in all aspects of content monetization including:
- Content – sales, licensing, distribution, acquisition, strategy, programming, windowing
- Revenue operations – finance, accounting
- Business strategy – digital, products and services
- Technology – data analytics, IT
- Business operations – legal, rights management
Roadblocks to Insight
According to a comprehensive survey conducted by SymphonyAI and Parks Associates, more than 80% of media executives are challenged by data fragmentation, untimely insight, and a lack of tools to analyze data.
The SymphonyAI Media copilot directly addresses these issues by providing targeted solutions that enhance decision-making capabilities. Its ability to deliver rapid, actionable insight into content performance, revenue forecasting, and licensing opportunities is transformative. By processing vast amounts of data, the Media copilot enables companies to quickly analyze and optimize their distribution and monetization strategies, responding precisely to the industry’s demand for faster, more accurate content performance analysis.
Showcasing at NAB Show
At the NAB Show, SymphonyAI media division president Mark Moeder led the “Monetizing Content with AI” presentation in the Microsoft booth. This session highlighted the capabilities of the SymphonyAI Media copilot and delved into the broader realm of emerging AI technologies set to revolutionize the media and entertainment industry.
The demonstration showcased how AI can enhance monetization strategies for FAST and AVOD. In our demo kiosk at the Microsoft booth, visitors explored the SymphonyAI Media copilot’s functionalities up-close, further demonstrating its potential to streamline content monetization processes.
Broader Impact
The introduction of the SymphonyAI Media copilot signifies a broader impact on the industry, marking SymphonyAI’s commitment to pioneering AI solutions across various sectors. Already, SymphonyAI has launched successful AI copilots for retail, financial services, and industrial manufacturing use cases and users. These have quickly become invaluable tools within their respective industries. These copilots are testament to the practical benefits and efficiencies AI technologies bring to complex business environments.
As the media and entertainment industry faces its own unique challenges, the Media copilot emerges as a major industry innovation, offering a new way to optimize monetization in the increasingly complex content ecosystem. The future of AI in media and entertainment looks promising, with SymphonyAI leading the charge. Industry stakeholders are encouraged to embrace these advancements, exploring how AI can be integrated into their strategies to drive growth and innovation.
Call to Action
Dive into the future of content monetization with SymphonyAI’s Media copilot and Revedia. Experience the transformative power of AI-driven insight firsthand by requesting a demo today. Unlock new revenue opportunities and position your content for success in the digital landscape.
