Both healthcare and media production face the same operational challenge: managing a large, specialized workforce under volatile, high-stakes demand. In hospitals, patient inflow unpredictability strains staffing, while in media production, fluctuating project pipelines drive overtime, budget overruns, and resource conflicts. Healthcare has already solved this problem at scale using predictive census AI—forecasting demand with >90% accuracy and optimizing staffing in real time. Media production follows a structurally similar pattern: patient flow mirrors project flow, departments mirror production units, and clinical resources map to crew, studios, and equipment. By adapting healthcare’s proven architecture—time-series forecasting, ensemble models, and visual operational dashboards—media companies can shift from reactive scheduling to proactive workforce management, unlocking significant reductions in overtime, idle time, and budget variance.
Dalet – The Economic Shift: From Waterfall to Agile in 2026
Looking back at 2025, one thing is clear: this was the year AI finally moved from experimentation to production in the media industry. At the beginning of the year, especially at the NAB Show in April, we still saw hesitation. Media technology buyers were curious but cautious, unsure whether AI would deliver real operational value. But very quickly after the show, that hesitancy faded. Broadcasters and content companies began requesting implementations, not just demonstrations. They tested AI capabilities and, most importantly, saw tangible benefits.
Transcription, translation, and other core AI-powered functions, once considered innovations, became table stakes. Once customers used them in real workflows, expectations shifted. As we step into 2026, the question is not whether AI belongs in media workflows, but where the industry goes next. The answer lies in two major shifts: first, a move towards autonomous, task-oriented AI components; second, a cultural embrace of agile, iterative approaches over traditional waterfall thinking.
NStarX – The Live Sports Broadcasting Crisis: How AI Can Navigate the Perfect Storm
Live sports broadcasting stands at a critical inflection point. What was once a straightforward linear television model has fractured into a complex ecosystem where fans need multiple streaming subscriptions exceeding $800 annually just to follow their favorite teams. The migration from appointment television to streaming platforms has created unprecedented technical and business challenges that threaten both viewer satisfaction and industry profitability.
IABM Technology and Trends Roadmap – 2025
The IABM Technology and Trends Roadmap isn’t just for industry technologists to use as a reference. IABM has discovered industry execs using it as a starting point for their keynote speeches: product line managers are using it to plot their own products; and corporate board members get a better understanding of where the company’s products sit on the adoption curve, hence a better grasp or risks vs gross margins. This also assists marketing activities by giving an indication of how best to promote products within M&E and adjacent/vertical market areas.
TotalMedia – Empowering intelligent video processing solutions for over 30 years, revolutionizing video broadcasting and OTT services through innovative technology licensing
Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, TotalMedia has over three decades of expertise in image and video core technologies. Leveraging a Software-Defined Architecture (SDAA), TotalMedia provides a flexible and scalable foundation for seamless integration with existing broadcast and OTT infrastructures while adapting to future technological advancements.
With over a decade of investment in artificial intelligence, AI serves as the cornerstone of TotalMedia’s UHD encoder, generative content and quality enhancement features. AI-powered algorithms enhance video resolution, smoothness, and color accuracy, restore aging content, and generate advanced visual effects such as super slow motion and afterimages. TotalMedia empowers industries including broadcasting, cable networks, telecom operators, OTT platforms, content providers, surveillance, and emerging sectors like in-vehicle entertainment systems.
Pixel Power – Automation and Content – how can they coexist?
One of my favorite things to say about our media production world is that I’ve never worked in an industry that is so obsessed with the next generation of technology but is so slow to actually adopt it. Perhaps this conservative tendency is a side-effect of working with content that we see as culturally significant or valuable, or maybe it’s just the recurring 3am nightmare of the screen going black during primetime. But when industry commentators keep lauding the next new shiny thing as a game-changer, customers watch on with their hands on their hips waiting for one of their number to go first, make all the mistakes, and iron out all of the wrinkles.
nxtedition – Telling the right story by mastering multiplatform content creation in today’s media landscape
Great storytelling isn’t just about what we say; it’s about how, where, and when we say it. In an era where content is consumed across a wide array of devices and platforms, delivering the right story to the right person at the right time is more complex than ever, and probably one of our industry’s biggest challenges. Content creators must adapt their storytelling to suit each platform and audience, while keeping the core message consistent.
MISTV – Are we going back to linear? If so, what’s the impact on advertising? What role does AI have?
Beyond news and sports, many viewers have seemingly replaced standard linear broadcast with on-demand. This is particularly true with the generation that grew up with MP3 players and making their own playlist, rather than simply listening to a whole album. Now we appear to be moving back into a type of customized linear viewing habit. Whether you’re sitting at home (or anywhere for that matter) people are back to just watching programs which we called “couch potatoes”. They are series binge watching, continuously locked into niche channels, or just sitting there watching clips flying by endlessly. When you look at the Nielsen Research, YouTube has captured 11% of the main TV screen in the home.
I call this “on-demand linear”. We are even seeing these niche FAST channels delivered over-the-air now and I wanted to dig deeper into this with respect to advertising as linear is still the “cash-cow” for the broadcast business due to advertising.
I had the fantastic opportunity to ask these questions to Jiří Gabriel, COO of MISTV, who supplies complex solutions for advertising sales, rights, content and broadcast management worldwide.
MediaKind – Creativity in the Age of AI
Independent content creators are no longer just challengers. They’re redefining the media landscape and going toe-to-toe with traditional broadcasters and major streaming giants for audience loyalty. A prime example of this shift? The recent Sidemen Charity Match, where over 90,000 fans packed Wembley Stadium to watch YouTube’s biggest stars compete on the football field. This event demonstrates how online influencers can now command the type of dedicated audiences once reserved for mainstream sports and entertainment events.
Grass Valley – How AI and automation are reshaping media production
At the Grass Valley booth at ISE 2025 in Barcelona, an entire live production was orchestrated through the Apple Vision Pro, without a single button press. Instead of relying on traditional control surfaces, operators used intuitive gestures and spatial interactions to manage live feeds, camera angles, and graphics in real time. Meanwhile, remote production tools like Sport Producer X are enabling one-person teams to deliver high-quality live events from anywhere, using streamlined workflows that were previously only possible in large-scale broadcast environments.