The Current State of the Industry and the Future Impact of AI
Hillary Lewis April 18, 2024
0 Comments
The Entertainment Industry: How did we get here and what is the future impact of AI?
A pandemic followed by a recession and twin strikes, add the sudden rise of AI, the over-production of original content, changing viewing patterns, potential bundling of streaming platforms the list goes on and on. The entertainment industry is in a state of flux that has not been seen in decades. When the smoke clears, where does that leave us? What really is the future of the entertainment industry? How are networks and studios adopting AI, and what does that mean for the rest of us?
CreativeCOW's Contributing Writer, Hillary Lewis ventured to SXSW 2024 in Austin, TX, one of the country's largest conferences in tech and film, to get a pulse on these questions.
Some of the biggest industry leaders were in attendance, including SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland; CTO of Paramount Global, Phil Wiser; CEO and founder of Roku, Anthony Wood; VP Product of Adobe Express, Ian Wang; Vimeo SVP of Product, Zohar Dayan; and notable writers, directors, actors, media analysts, AI executives, and other leaders in the industry.
First up: What is the current state of the industry? The biggest question on everyone's mind is How did we get here? Why is our industry still in such a disarray? The Hollywood strikes ended six months ago, so why does content production remain at a standstill? Will the industry ever recover?
There were an overwhelming number of panels at SXSW covering this very topic. One specific panel, The Death of Peak TV A 2024 Post Mortem on Production Downturn' led by Tyler Aquilina, Media Analyst for Variety's Intelligence Platform, shed some light on just how we ended up here.
According to a mountain of data, Aquilina says the industry had been approaching a tipping point long before the Hollywood strikes began. So the first thing that we should really take note of here is that 2022 was the year that TV finally actually peaked. The term Peak TV' was coined well before TV output finally crested and then fell.
The Death of Peak TV' presentation shows the gradual shift from cable and broadcast to SVOD, i.e. streaming
The Death of Peak TV' presentation shows the original series output each year by category of content.
As shown above, in 2023 the industry as a whole saw a 20% drop in original series output across all platforms, plunging from more than 2,000 titles in 2022 to just over 1,600 last year. That came after two decades of almost continuous growth.
There were, of course, other years with small dips in content one for the writer's strike in 2007-08, and one for COVID. However, those dips were never more than 7% a sharp contrast to last year's 20% drop. We also saw a spike in production immediately proceeding both of these time periods another contrast to the stagnant production levels we've seen in 2023-24.
The year 2020 also happened to be when the streaming wars really got going. Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Discovery all of these new platforms started popping up beginning in late 2019. And they all decided to follow the model Netflix built, aiming to entice more and more viewers away from cable to streaming by producing massive amounts of original content. More content than anyone could ever dream to watch.
So in 2021 and 2022, we see an unprecedented influx in TV outputs with these new streaming companies throwing billions of dollars into production and racking up massive deficits in the process. The problem is most of these companies weren't turning a profit. Their main goal, and the only thing Wall Street cared about at the time, was increasing their subscribers.
That is, until something very important happens in 2022 Netflix loses subscribers in Q1 of that year, the first time they'd ever reported a drop in subscribers. This is what starts a chain reaction and triggers the beginning of the fall of Peak TV. Investors begin to pay a lot more attention to how much money these legacy media companies are spending AND how much they're losing.
So while there are many events in 2023, like the twin Hollywood strikes, that bare the brunt of the blame for the current state of the industry, the true death of Peak TV was happening before most of the industry was even aware.
How are networks and studios responding to these changes? So what happens now? Has corporate greed ultimately killed the industry? Or are other factors also at play? How will streaming change in the coming years? The guesses are endless but the consensus seems rather bleak for the entertainment industry for some time.
First, networks and streaming companies are taking a step back from over-producing in all areas, only prioritizing their most successful content. More careful considerations for IP-based blockbusters (think The Last of Us and the newly greenlit Monopoly film by LuckyChap and Lionsgate), prestigious awards-based titles (think Oppenheimer or Dune: Part 2), and a strong focus on bringing more sports to streaming (Disney is refocusing a big part of their budget on this).
The projected global spending in 2024 of Sports programming; Disney is set to invest the most in sports out of all other streaming companies
Aquilina also suggests streaming companies will favor unscripted content in general over scripted moving forward, and we'll see more reruns' returning to platforms.
Streaming has typically been filled more by scripted than unscripted. But that is going to start changing. Streaming will look a lot more like cable, fewer scripted originals being produced. Unscripted is a lot cheaper. In tandem with that, I think streaming will start relying a lot more on reruns' which
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
18/05/2026
Despite a bumpy start to the year, the provider of event-production support and ...
18/05/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the University of North Carolina to manufacture and install 11 LED displays totaling more than 10,000 square feet and more than 14...
18/05/2026
CBS LA has announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Rams, covering exclusive local broadcasts of Rams preseason games, weekly year-round programm...
18/05/2026
Skyline Communications has announced an integration between its DataMiner xOps p...
18/05/2026
eCLUTCH, the hybrid esports platform powered by iKOMG, has announced an expansion of its distribution across Europe, MENA, Africa, and Asia, along with new cont...
18/05/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/05/2026
With 22 games this season, the production team looks forward to tweaking and enhancing the coverage
After 8,660 days off the air, the WNBA returned to NBC yest...
18/05/2026
(L-R) Midori Francis and Natalie Erika James attend the Saccharine premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 22, 2026, in ...
18/05/2026
Last night, the Spotify Podcast Awards in Mexico returned to the country's capital. Now in its second year, the evening honors creators whose voices are hel...
18/05/2026
ZEN-Core synth goes mobile
Roland's powerful ZEN-Core software synthesizer has just been introduced to the iPad, offering a convenient entry point into ...
18/05/2026
Versatile new limiter plug-in announced
Based in Sheffield, UK, fedDSP offer a range of plug-ins that span the music production, live sound and high-end med...
18/05/2026
A new use for convolution?
Viiri Audio's debut plug-in aims to do something a little different with convolution processing, allowing users to adjust all...
18/05/2026
Delta Goodrem shines for SBS as more than 3.27 million Australians tune in for E...
18/05/2026
The Australian Defence Force uses L3Harris T4 and T7 robots for explosive ordnan...
18/05/2026
Continued investment across Europe and Germany is expanding local teams and improving access to stock, regional expertise, and specialist broadcast support.
CV...
18/05/2026
18 May 2026
Dubai and New York, May 18, 2026 - VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON), a glob...
18/05/2026
Monday 18 May 2026
Sky News offers ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes for just...
18/05/2026
Comscore March 2026 Consumer AI Chatbot Usage Rankings Show Claude Gaining Share OpenAI's ChatGPT maintains lead while Anthropic's Claude continues to c...
17/05/2026
Delta Goodrem's Eurovision Eclipse marks end of a stellar run
17 May, 2026
Media releases
Bulgaria wins Eurovision 2026
Relive every spellbinding mome...
17/05/2026
Back to All News
Oasis Premieres on Netflix June 19
Entertainment
17 May 2026
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Summer, sunshine, the beach, parties. T...
16/05/2026
Helps to deliver a clean, balanced midrange
Developed alongside Newfangled Audio, the latest plug-in in Eventide's software collection has been designed...
16/05/2026
Brings onboard stem rendering to RANE System One
Engine DJ have just released Engine DJ 5.0, a free update for their Engine DJ OS embedded hardware and Engi...
16/05/2026
Boris FX Continuum Pairs AI Precision and Advanced Creative Controls
Jessie Electa Petrov May 16, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic de...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
16/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
15/05/2026
Seattle Sounders FC and Seattle Reign FC, in partnership with RAVE Foundation an...
15/05/2026
Dan Brumm has served as sound designer on Bluey, the Australian children's t...
15/05/2026
The Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance (PAMA) and Shure Incorporated are accepting applications for the 6th annual Mark Brunner Professional Audio Schola...
15/05/2026
Netflix has announced an expanded NFL schedule for 2026 and beyond under a four-year partnership extension with the NFL through the 2029-30 season. Each season,...
15/05/2026
Ateme is supporting TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) with a contribution and d...
15/05/2026
Concacaf has announced the launch of a new website and mobile app built on Deltatre's FORGE platform. Concacaf.com and the mobile app, available on iOS and ...
15/05/2026
Eutelsat has announced the launch of QBC Business Economic Channel by Qatar Media Corporation, broadcasting in 4K/UHD via Eutelsat's 7/8 West video neighbo...
15/05/2026
Major League Soccer has announced four original content series timed to the 2026...
15/05/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced it will exhibit and present at InfoComm 2026, taking place June 13-19 at the Las Vegas Convention Cente...
15/05/2026
InfoComm 2026 will take place June 13-19 (exhibits June 17-19) at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show will include sessions and exhibits covering broadcas...
15/05/2026
Tracy McGrady's Ones Basketball League (OBL) and FuboTV Inc. have announced ...
15/05/2026
Disguise has partnered with Creative Technology (CT) to deliver visual playback ...
15/05/2026
Sony Electronics has announced two new products for professional imaging: the Alpha 7R VI full-frame mirrorless camera and the FE 100-400mm F4.5 GM OSS super-te...
15/05/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
15/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
15/05/2026
For sports organizations, the most valuable assets are often the most sensitive:...
15/05/2026
The NFL's broadcast partners released their 2026 regular season schedules ye...
15/05/2026
Besides drawing on experience with boxing, the production integrates specialty c...
The Current State of the Industry and the Future Impact of AI 
