In the fast-paced world of media and entertainment, the buzz around transformative technologies can shift in the blink of an eye. Just two short years ago, blockchain was the rage, with its promise of revolutionizing content rights management, royalty payments, and fan engagement. Fast forward to 2024, and the industry's gaze has turned to the inspiring potential of artificial intelligence (AI). From content creation to image generation to personalized recommendations, AI has swiftly become the new darling of the M&E sector, leaving blockchain as a mere footnote in people's memories.

Spherex, a global technology and data company serving the Media and Entertainment industry, will showcase SpherexAI™, its pioneering AI platform for video content compliance and analysis, at NAB 2024 in Las Vegas from April 13 to 17. The SpherexAI™ platform empowers content owners to adapt their narratives for the broadest international audience while avoiding regulatory restrictions and censorship barriers. Spherex will be exhibiting at Booth W2217 in the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

25-35% of consumers watch international content.When the summer box office hinted the movie business was returning to pre-pandemic normal, the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes halted productions , and studios once again needed a source of new content. Although some titles were completed, the strikes meant that until the parties reached an agreement, no union members were available to promote films or series. As has been reported at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), deals aren't happening because all sales must conform to the final negotiated settlements, and studios are reluctant to spend money on deals until the terms are known.

Some of their reasons may surprise you!If you're older than a Millennial, there's a good chance you've rarely watched TV with subtitles onscreen. When you did, it was probably sitting with someone hearing impaired or watching a foreign language film.

Revisiting Our 2022 Predictions for Media & Entertainment  Lewis Carroll's famous "Alice in Wonderland" metaphor of "Through the Looking Glass" describes a world that looks recognizable but unfamiliar. A fitting description for the Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry in 2022. The year began with the hope that life and the economy would return to pre-COVID "normal," but it did not happen. With much of the planet still impacted by COVID and a global recession, M&E markets tried to make sense of it and respond accordingly. Just as Alice found Wonderland, a world turned upside down, that's how we find the world of M&E at the end of 2022.  In December 2022 , we predicted three things would occur in M&E: 1.     The battle for audience share would intensify 2.     Investment in original foreign-language content would increase 3.     Culturalization would become an integral component of localization Let’s see how close we came to predicting life in Wonderland in 2022. Audience Share Despite a global recession and a Q2 decline in Netflix subscription numbers, consumers continue to move from linear TV to the alphabet of Video on Demand (VOD) services in increasing quantities. For the first time, streaming overtook cable in total viewership in July with a 34.8% share of the audience compared to 34.4% for cable and 21.6% for broadcast TV. Across the board , subscriptions increased for streaming services and gaming platforms, while satellite and cable companies continued to experience six-figure declines . Streaming platforms also saw significant subscriber growth in Asia and Pacific (APAC) markets. Accompanying this growth are industry churn rates for subscription platforms that have increased year-over-year by 5.3% . The reason for that is, according to Evan Shapiro, "Users are signing up for hit shows, bingeing them, and then canceling in favor of another service with a different hit show." The lesson for M&E is, "keep the hits coming." Answering the question of where those hits come from leads us to our second prediction. Foreign Content Spend Increased Driven by increases in international subscribers, total investment in non-U.S. content increased to $115B in 2022, while total spending increased to $232B . Netflix, for example, committed $45M to develop French and European content over the next three years. Paramount+ expanded into 45 new foreign markets , which means like other VOD companies, they must comply with EU content origin requirements . Even as the global economy slows, analysts expect global content spending to increase industry-wide by an average of 10% in 2023, with a focus on quality and cost. Culturalization Became Important Along with the recognition that titles bought for single-language markets may find audiences globally came the realization that localization and culturalization matter. We refer to this as the "Squid Game Effect." Although wildly successful, "Squid Game" suffered from sometimes brutal social and news media reports that the show suffered from inaccurate or misleading subs, dubs, and closed captioning. While these reports didn't seem to affect the series' audience, they left many wondering if the story they saw was the one intended. The reaction's effect on writers, directors, and producers was to make them more aware of the need for cultural and linguistic accuracy. Localization firms have responded to these critiques and challenges, but so have the people doing the work . While there is some fundamental disagreement about how to improve the process, the underlying reality is that the industry accepts that culture matters to audiences — a lot. What about next year? Predictions are fun to make and revisit at the end of the year to see how well you guessed what might happen. Our 2022 predictions were pretty accurate, but they weren't lucky guesses. As Hall of Fame baseball player, Yogi Berra famously said , “You can observe a lot by just watching." What we predicted for 2022 was inevitable because of how audiences, content, and regulation have evolved. The trends driving that evolution are still in play and will continue to impact the industry, not just next year but for years to come. We will explore the evolution and impacts when we debut our 2023 predictions next week.  The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

How local awareness can keep your content from being censoredHardly a week goes by when a film or TV title isn't criticized for offending someone somewhere. This week alone, two lead news stories focused on titles some audiences will find offensive. Each example provides insight into title content judged and interpreted differently by the show's producers, regulators, and audiences.

The global reach of OTT/FAST means that those platforms are fighting a continuous battle to bring new and successful content into more and more markets.

An event where time was well spent.There's an old sports adage: competition breeds success. And that was assuredly on display at this year's OTT.X conference.

What should content creators make of platform subscribers and revenue numbers?  If you listen to media pundits, analysts don’t expect Q2 of 2022 to bode well for linear or streaming platforms. Several said the industry was “ slowing down ” due to the state of the global economy. Market contractions are likely to lower ad revenue and impact subscriber totals. To some degree, the companies that have reported so far (more are coming this week) indicate the experts may have a point, but will it impact content development or market expansion?    Among earnings announcements so far:    Netflix posted a loss of 970K subscribers  Peacock netted no new paid subscribers in the quarter  Apple service subscriber growth slowed compared to previous quarters    Other prominent players in the streaming space are expected to report subscriber losses, slower subscriber growth rates, and revenues or earnings below projections. Fortunately, the state of the industry isn’t as bad as some like to paint it. In fact, none of the companies reporting earnings so far have announced a reduction in their content spending this year despite these challenging economic times.    Netflix  Netflix CFO Spence Neumann said in their Q2 earnings call , “…if you zoom out a bit and look at past economic cycles, at least in the US, most forms of entertainment have been fairly resilient to downturns.” People tend to keep streaming subscriptions as they optimize their entertainment spending. Neumann cited that operating income and Earnings Per Share (EPS) were higher than expected, and the company saw a 7.7% growth in screen time during the quarter. This growth included countries where the company increased prices. Bottom line: Netflix will not change its content strategy or curb spending.    Comcast  Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said during their Q2 earnings call that despite flat subscriber growth in the NBCU Media group, their investment in content was paying off. He cited upfronts generating “more than $7 billion in commitments, including $1 billion at Peacock” for the 2022/2023 season. Roberts touted the success of theatrical releases including “Jurassic World,” “Minions: The Rise of Gru,” and “Black Phone,” emphasizing that “great content attracts massive audiences.” Comcast indicated no intent to cut back on content development.    Apple   Apple’s commitment to content continues, with CEO Tim Cook saying during their earnings call that the company grew to over 860M paid members of Apple TV+, Apple Music, and Apple Arcade platforms in the quarter, generating $19.6B in revenue. Cook highlighted that in 2.5 years, Apple TV+ has “earned 250 wins and 1,100 award nominations,” including 52 Emmy nominations across 13 titles.    What this means for content creators is that, given the current global economy, there is no planned change in the amount of money invested in new content. Every major company that has reported quarterly earnings remains committed to its announced investment levels in new content development for 2022. That doesn’t mean they won’t adjust how or what they buy in the future. It means their focus remains on creating engaging content consumers want to watch. This is good news for companies that cultivate and localize content. It is a testament to their effectiveness in producing titles welcomed in over 200+ countries and territories worldwide.