Microsoft helps media customers capitalize on AI for greater ROI

Media and entertainment executives are excited about the potential for AI to help their companies delight customers and realize greater profitability, with many focused on determining the best methods to take advantage of this technology.

Why does this matter? For every $1 an organization invests in generative AI, they are realizing an average of 3.7x return.¹

In recent research we commissioned through Devoncroft Partners, it became clear that media and entertainment customers are at different stages of adoption.

“We were a launch customer for a customer service focused AI technology company. We expected it to drive tremendous savings versus historical, labor-intensive customer service groups. It did. What is beyond belief is the fact that customer satisfaction goes up. The customers are happy about it. They get a better response. So, it’s not just about defraying costs. It’s about the fact that we can actually defray costs at the same time, we’re providing a better product or service to our customer. It’s definitely an industry shift.”

OTT Streaming Company

“I have my team run AI tests across a variety of use cases (production, processing, distribution … ) every six months. AI isn’t ready to replace our existing processes. However, every six months the tests are showing double digit improvement. I have never seen this in any other technology…and the trajectory has not flatted out. It’s really impressive.”

Media Conglomerate

Technology decisions made today will dictate the direction and capabilities of the media industry for the next 10 to 15 years, significantly impacting workflows and strategic opportunities.

We are committed to working with our media and entertainment customers and partners to advance AI while addressing some of the key obstacles to adoption. Here are some valuable resources for you to have on hand, wherever you are on your journey.

How you can advance AI in your organization

Discover how our media and entertainment customers are optimizing operations, empowering content creators, and unlocking new monetization opportunities:

Universal Destinations & Experiences

Universal Destinations & Experiences’ award-winning theme park destinations are adopting predictive maintenance across many of its state-of-the-art attractions to help further improve guest satisfaction, using Microsoft Azure and Azure Data Explorer. This has resulted in streamlined operations and maintenance efforts at this attraction, with a 66% reduction in labor hours on work orders related to its blaster network.

HyperCinema

The creative minds behind New Zealand startup HyperCinema had a revolutionary idea: What if a show could be generated in real time as you walk into a venue and immerse you more deeply than ever in the story world of the brand or attraction using generative AI? The company puts 50,000 images and 6,000 30- to 45-second videos through its HyperEngine every day to deliver automated and hyper-personalized in-person storytelling experiences in real time, all powered through Azure and Azure OpenAI Service.

Promo.com

Promo.com has revolutionized its video creation services with Azure and Azure OpenAI Service.

Evolving from a browser-based video editor, Promo.com now helps small businesses and agencies effortlessly produce a month’s worth of marketing videos in minutes with PromoAI. By generating videos in just two minutes, Promo.com has increased its user engagement and grown its PromoAI product, adding over 1 million USD in new annual recurring revenue just five months after launch, while enhancing customer retention by 40%.

LALIGA

LALIGA’s partnership and move to Azure has transformed fan engagement, driven revenue growth, and created new opportunities for sports clubs, leagues, and federations.

Beyond Stats, a fan-facing data and insights platform powered by Azure captures and analyzes more than 3.5 million data points per match to provide engaging content for fans across multiple platforms including social media, broadcast, and the LALIGA app. This partnership is one of many that is showcasing how Microsoft is helping transform sports with cutting-edge technology.

For more media and entertainment customer stories visit our repository online and search by product, industry, business need or organization size.

What holds some media and entertainment companies back from adopting AI, and what you can do about it

Data and security concerns along with lack of skilling are two key barriers to AI adoption for all industries, according to the IDC.² Media and entertainment executives are understandably concerned about protecting creators and content and many are looking for ways to provide employees with skilling and the opportunity to safely experiment with AI while avoiding risk to their core business.

Here are a few resources to take advantage of, depending on the challenge you may be facing:

Protecting creators and content

Andrew Jenks, Microsoft’s Director of Media Provenance and Executive Director of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), speaks to what Microsoft and other companies are doing to “fight the fakes” in this article from Technology Record.

As well, 80% of leaders across all industries cited leakage of sensitive data as their main concern. Our pledge to our customers and our community is to prioritize your cyber safety above all else. We’re continuously applying what we’ve learned from incidents to improve our methods and practices, ensuring that security is paramount in everything we create and provide, through our Secure Future Initiative (SFI).

Skilling

Microsoft recently announced a strategic collaboration with Pearson, the world’s lifelong learning company, to help address one of the top challenges facing organizations globally: skilling for the era of AI.

The partnership will focus on providing employers, workers, and learners with new AI-powered products and services to help prepare the current and future workforce across industries for the era of work in an AI-powered economy. By combining Pearson’s expertise in learning and assessment with Microsoft cloud and AI technologies, this partnership will play a foundational role in helping organizations realize the full value of AI through reskilling.

For additional resources to brush up on AI skills, visit Microsoft Learn where you can start with a single course such as the Fundamentals of generative AI or create your own personalized plan with AI. While you are there, register for the Microsoft AI Skills Fest to unlock your future with 50 days of AI discovery and learning.

Low-stakes opportunities to experiment

Copilots are infusing AI into every function and role—and are one easy way to experiment with generative AI. And many companies are doing more than experimenting. In fact, more than 85% of Fortune 500 are using Microsoft AI, with 70% of Fortune 500 companies already using Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Copilot can be woven in to help streamline media workflows to allow people to continue to be at the center of creative and strategic work. Here are a few easy-to-use Copilot use cases to get you started:

Empower content creators

• Idea generation: Use Copilot to brainstorm different ideas that may appeal to certain audiences. Copilot can analyze trends and audience preferences to suggest fresh and engaging content ideas.
• Storyboarding: Have Copilot come up with a storyboard to get to the next stage quicker. Copilot can outline scenes, suggest dialogue, and create visual elements to help bring your ideas to life.

Optimize operations

• Campaign development: Work with Copilot to develop strategic and personalized campaigns. Copilot can analyze customer data to create targeted marketing messages and suggest the best channels for promotion.
• Collaboration management: Task Copilot with taking organized and effective notes during Microsoft Teams meetings that can be actioned upon quicky. Copilot can help you stay on top of action items and make the collaboration experience easier than ever.

Unlock monetization

• Data synthesis: Use Copilot to gain quicker, more actionable insights from your data. Copilot can analyze large datasets to identify trends, patterns, and opportunities, allowing everyone to synthesize insights quickly and make informed decisions.
• ⁠Personalized recommendations: Copilot can use predictive analytics for ad campaigns, subscriber churn identification, and personalized recommendations to improve user satisfaction and retention, optimizing advertising revenue.

Find these Copilot use case scenarios and more in the Microsoft Copilot Scenario Library.

Explore these additional resources to see how generative AI can transform your business

• Read the Devoncroft white paper for a deeper understanding of how the media and entertainment industry is adopting AI technologies.
• How real-world businesses are transforming with AI — with more than 140 new stories.
• Coming soon: The Media and Entertainment AI Toolkit—designed specifically for media and entertainment professionals—provides insights, strategies, and recommendations to help you use AI responsibly and effectively. You’ll see a range of AI technologies, including Copilot and Azure AI Foundry, and how they’re already providing benefits to organizations all over.

We are incredibly excited about what our customers and partners are doing with AI. We love to hear about what’s working, what’s challenging, and how we can help. And we can’t wait to share more success stories and lessons learned with you.

Join us at NAB to learn more

If any of the resources, topics, or new content in this blog have piqued your interest, come see us at NAB Show, where you can experience some of our latest AI solutions for yourself.

From theater and keynote sessions to cutting edge demos, let’s reimagine media with AI together. Learn more about Microsoft’s NAB Show presence, including our Microsoft Experience Room, sports floor AI-powered transformation exhibits, and keynote session showcasing the latest innovations from Microsoft, our customers, and partners. 

Microsoft’s commitment to the media and entertainment Industry 

Microsoft enables media organizations to achieve more through a trusted and secure platform, built to empower content creators and distributors, enhance the viewer experience, and reimagine monetization strategies.

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^1,2 IDC, Business Opportunity of AI | Generative AI Delivering New Business Value and Increasing ROI, 2024

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Source: Microsoft Industry Blog