BCG’s 2025 survey reveals the compelling advantages of specialized GenAI and what professional services firms and information services providers should do to boost adoption.
Our Expertise Across Media and Entertainment
We work with media and entertainment companies across the globe—and across the industry’s subsectors and ecosystems.
- Filmed entertainment and studios
- Publishing
- Digital pure plays
- Sports
- Cinemas
- Music and audio
- Gaming
- Media in telco
- Digital marketplaces
Our Approach to Media and Entertainment Transformation
Major shifts—in how content is created, consumed, and purchased—are reshaping today’s media industry. We help companies develop the strategies and capabilities that let them react to the changes, so they can thrive amidst disruption—and create some of their own.
- Acquiring and Retaining Subscribers. We develop pricing optimization and customer acquisition strategies for media and entertainment companies, so they can stand out with compelling value propositions.
- Zero-Based Budgeting for Media Companies. With our zero-based budgeting (ZBB) methodology, we identify inefficient spending in an organization—across marketing and sales, supply chains, and operating models—and determine how to better use the funds to support sustainable, long-term growth.
- Data Transformation and Commercialization. Our media and entertainment consultants guide companies through data transformation and commercialization by using new and existing data sources to generate entirely new revenue streams, business units, or businesses.
- Advertising in the Aftermath of COVID. We help ad publishers accelerate recovery and growth while mitigating risk, diversifying revenue streams, and streamlining operations.
- Tech Stacks. Technology is at the heart of the transformation agenda of media companies. Our deep knowledge of tech stacks in media allows us to develop solutions that enable transformation and drive efficiencies.
- Radical Organization Design. Many of the enablers of media transformation—digital initiatives, advanced analytics, the use of technology in media—require new skills and talent, and new approaches to how companies are structured. Our media and entertainment consultants help implement organization design in ways that empower people, foster innovation, and deliver competitive advantage.
Bolstering our media and entertainment consulting teams are our specialty businesses—including BCG X, BCG's tech build and design unit, and BrightHouse, BCG's global creative consultancy.
Our Impact in the Media and Entertainment Industry
Our media and entertainment consultants advise both traditional media companies and digital pure plays in video, gaming, publishing, music, sports media, cinema, and B2B information services. Here are a few examples of our work:
Global Media and Entertainment Company
We helped a major media player develop a more customer-centric pricing and product strategy. The large price gap between free content and a single paid tier for video-on-demand created a high barrier to entry for casual customers, contributed to high churn rates, and forced the company to over-rely on discounts. Leveraging customer research and insights, we created new tiers designed for different kinds of users. The result: an 80% increase in paying subscribers and a doubling of revenues.
We helped a major media player develop a more customer-centric pricing and product strategy. The large price gap between free content and a single paid tier for video-on-demand created a high barrier to entry for casual customers, contributed to high churn rates, and forced the company to over-rely on discounts. Leveraging customer research and insights, we created new tiers designed for different kinds of users. The result: an 80% increase in paying subscribers and a doubling of revenues.
Leading Broadcaster
BCG media and entertainment consultants helped drive significant growth—a 50% year-over-year increase in ad revenue—after our client acquired the rights to a popular sports property. We reshaped the company’s ad sales strategy and execution and developed promotional strategies to reach underdeveloped viewer segments. A key component: enhancing the viewer experience via innovative new offerings, including a superfan feed, regional language feeds, and immersive 360-degree video that utilized larger graphics and unique camera perspectives to engage the audience.
BCG media and entertainment consultants helped drive significant growth—a 50% year-over-year increase in ad revenue—after our client acquired the rights to a popular sports property. We reshaped the company’s ad sales strategy and execution and developed promotional strategies to reach underdeveloped viewer segments. A key component: enhancing the viewer experience via innovative new offerings, including a superfan feed, regional language feeds, and immersive 360-degree video that utilized larger graphics and unique camera perspectives to engage the audience.
Major US Newspaper
We developed a media transformation strategy for a traditional news publisher using customer research to better understand preferences and behavior, creating subscription-based and advertising-supported business models, and designing an implementation plan and an organizational structure to support it. This enabled the publisher to align its product offerings with customer needs—and expand its digital audience by 50%.
We developed a media transformation strategy for a traditional news publisher using customer research to better understand preferences and behavior, creating subscription-based and advertising-supported business models, and designing an implementation plan and an organizational structure to support it. This enabled the publisher to align its product offerings with customer needs—and expand its digital audience by 50%.
Our Media and Entertainment Institutes
We also produce thought leadership for the media industry through our three specialized institutes:
Global Institute for B2B Information Services
Business information providers are becoming technology firms, offering cloud-based solutions that are deeply embedded in their users’ workflow. We leverage our expertise in information services to help companies transition to the software-as-a-service model.
Global Institute for the Future of Television (GIFT)
A think tank and research group within our media practice, the GIFT explores the trends shaping the creation, distribution, and monetization of TV content. Institute events let industry leaders connect, collaborate, and advance new ideas and business models.
Global Institute for Journalism
BCG is strongly committed to a vibrant and free press in support of democracy. We also believe that journalism can be a profitable business. Our Institute for Journalism engages in original research, business model development, and industry conversations to support news organizations (both for- and not-for-profit) in their work.
Our Insights on the Media Industry
Article
April 9, 2025
The creative industries are jewels in the UK's crown, driving economic growth, jobs and soft power. We outline steps to protect and strengthen their future.
Article
December 12, 2024
The days of double-digit growth are gone. Game publishers must embrace new monetization strategies and focus on markets—and demographics—that they haven’t fully tapped.
Article
May 29, 2024
Offering consumers right-sized bundles of services can help media companies reduce the high churn of pay-as-you-go streaming media and move toward profitability.
