The Next Wave of Media Technology: 10 Emerging Technologies

The media sector is making substantial headway in areas like streaming, social media, and gaming. Moreover, media technology like artificial intelligence (AI)-powered automation in content creation and audience targeting as well as blockchain-based solutions for securing digital assets, are improving efficiency and audience engagement.

Why should you read this report?

• Gain in-depth insights into the top 10 technologies impacting media.
• Learn about three practical use cases for each technology.
• Meet 10 innovative startups advancing these technologies.

Key Takeaways

1. Artificial Intelligence
   • Use Cases:
     • Content Creation
     • Audience Targeting & Personalization
     • Advertising Automation
   • Startup to Watch: Copysmith
2. Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR)
   • Use Cases:
     • Immersive Storytelling
     • Virtual Production Sets
     • Interactive Advertising
   • Startup to Watch: Darabase
3. Big Data & Analytics
   • Use Cases:
     • Content Performance Analytics
     • Predictive Content Demand
     • Ad Targeting & Measurement
   • Startup to Watch: Animo
4. Blockchain
   • Use Cases:
     • Digital Rights Management (DRM)
     • Micropayments for Content
     • Decentralized Media Platform
   • Startup to Watch: Murasaki
5. CleanTech
   • Use Cases:
     • Sustainable Production Practices
     • Green Data Centers
     • Eco-Friendly Broadcasting Infrastructure
   • Startup to Watch: Food as Content
6. Cloud Computing
   • Use Cases:
     • Content Storage & Distribution
     • Remote Collaboration for Production
     • Live Streaming & On-Demand Services
   • Startup to Watch: AiHunters
7. Connectivity Technologies
   • Use Cases:
     • 5G-enabled Streaming
     • Remote Content Production
     • Smart Content Distribution
   • Startup to Watch: Saviah Technologies
8. Internet of Things (IoT)
   • Use Cases:
     • Smart Broadcasting Equipment
     • Personalized Viewing Experiences
     • Interactive Advertising
   • Startup to Watch: TOUT Audio
9. Advanced Robotics
   • Use Cases:
     • Automated Camera Systems
     • Content Creation in 3D Animation
     • Robotic Production Assistants
   • Startup to Watch: AIR
10. Biometrics
    • Use Cases:
      • User Authentication
      • Personalized Content
      • Secure Ad Payments
    • Startup to Watch: Winkel

Media Industry FAQs

What are the new media technologies?

New media technologies shape content creation, distribution, and consumption. Streaming platforms, powered by cloud computing, are transforming traditional broadcasting by offering on-demand access to films, music, and TV shows. Artificial intelligence further enables personalized content recommendations, while AR and VR create immersive experiences for interactive storytelling and gaming.

Additionally, social media platforms leverage advanced algorithms and machine learning to deliver targeted advertising and user-generated content. Blockchain is also emerging as a secure method for digital rights management and content monetization. These technologies represent a shift toward more decentralized, user-driven media ecosystems.

How We Identify Emerging Technologies & Startups

The data in this report originates from StartUs Insights’ Discovery Platform, covering 4.7 million global startups, scaleups, and technology companies, alongside 20,000 emerging technology trends. Our platform makes startup and technology scouting, trend intelligence, and patent searches more efficient by providing deep insights into the technological ecosystem. Utilizing the trend intelligence feature, we analyze industry-specific technologies for this report, detect patterns and trends, and identify use cases along with the startups advancing these areas. Further details and capabilities are accessible via the website.

10 Emerging Technologies Impacting the Future of Media Technology [2025 & Beyond]

1. Artificial Intelligence

AI enables media companies to deliver hyper-personalized content and adapt to shifting experiences to individual viewer preferences. Generative AI produces high-quality text, music, and even video content to reduce the need for repetitive tasks like video editing. As demand for content localization increases, AI automates the translation and adaptation of media for global audiences. AI also contributes to interactive storylines in virtual reality and ensures the veracity of news by filtering out fake news. This improves operational productivity and boosts audience engagement.

3 Practical Use Cases of Artificial Intelligence in Media

• Content Creation: Natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning automates content creation by generating articles, scripts, and curated content based on audience preferences. This speeds up the production process.
• Audience Targeting & Personalization: Predictive analytics profiles users and analyzes behavior to identify content preferences in real time. This increases engagement, retention rates, and advertising ROI.
• Advertising Automation: AI optimizes ad placements and bids in real time using demographic and behavioral data by leveraging programmatic advertising and machine learning.

Startup to look for: Copysmith

Copysmith provides AI-generated content across multiple communication channels. It utilizes a collection of AI-powered products – Describely, Frase, and Rytr – that assist content teams in generating high-quality content efficiently. For instance, Describely allows eCommerce teams to enrich product data by generating product descriptions, titles, and meta descriptions using AI. Additionally, Frase converts keywords into well-researched, SEO-optimized articles, while Rytr generates content for emails, blogs, ads, and more with AI trained in the user’s voice. The platform saves content teams time and resources while streamlining content creation.

2. Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality

AR and VR offer 3D environments and virtual space to enable immersive storytelling and interactive content capabilities. This improves audience engagement. As the demand for interactive viewing experiences rises, networks are increasingly using virtual sets to produce high-quality content for TV shows, news broadcasts, and live events. This increases the usage of 3D graphic overlays in the media industry. Brands are also adapting VR and AR to deliver virtual shopping experiences through AR-powered smart mirrors.

3 Practical Use Cases of the AR & VR in Media

• Immersive Storytelling: AR utilizes 360-degree video, 3D modeling, and real-time visualization to create immersive environments for news coverage, documentaries, and entertainment.
• Virtual Production Sets: AR and VR enable virtual set designs for movies and TV shows to reduce the need for physical props and locations through mixed reality (MR) and green screen augmentation.
• Interactive Advertising: AR filters and spatial mapping enhance ads by allowing users to interact with products in a 3D space before purchasing.

Startup to look for: DARABASE

UK-based startup, Darabase develops immersive AR solutions that convert out-of-home (OOH) media into interactive, location-based experiences. The company’s technology integrates augmented reality into outdoor advertising. This allows brands to engage with consumers by overlaying digital content onto physical posters or screens. It also uses QR codes to launch AR experiences on users’ mobile devices. The platform syncs the audio with the AR content and also routes users to physical stores. Darabase thus amplifies brand engagement, enhances footfall, and provides detailed analytics to advertisers.

3. Big Data & Analytics

Big data and analytics significantly improve customer satisfaction to ensure longer viewing sessions and higher retention rates. Advanced data analytics allows media businesses to predict shows or movies in demand. Moreover, real-time behavior during live streaming enables businesses to place highly targeted ads. These media insights generated using predictive analytics allow companies to identify user behavioral patterns like cancellation of the service on subscription-based platforms. Big data and analytics thus empower media companies to understand audience engagement and advertising effectiveness at a much deeper level.

3 Practical Use Cases of Big Data & Analytics in the Media Industry

• Content Performance Analytics: Big data monitors content performance across demographic segments by leveraging data mining and real-time analytics to optimize content strategies. This ensures improved audience retention and higher engagement rates.
• Predictive Content Demand: Predictive analytics and sentiment analysis streamline product cycles efficiently and enhance audience satisfaction with tailored timely content.
• Ad Targeting & Measurement: Big data and analytics measure ad campaign effectiveness across platforms using attribution modeling and data segmentation. This improves ad placement accuracy and targeting strategies.

Startup to look for: ANIMO 

Animo, an Israeli startup, provides a platform to optimize offline advertisements. The platform connects offline and online advertising data into one intuitive dashboard and measures the effectiveness of individual and combinations of channels in real time. Animo’s algorithms analyze performance metrics to identify which ad formats and media deliver the best ROI. Additionally, its automated media planner streamlines campaigns based on data-driven predictions. By centralizing and analyzing offline media performance, Animo improves campaign outcomes.

4. Blockchain

Blockchain solves long-standing concerns about piracy, sharing revenue, and content ownership. Blockchain verifies ad impressions and engagement to combat ad fraud. It provides transparency and trust in ad spending to ensure real viewers see ads. Similarly, blockchain ensures creators get paid immediately and accurately for each use of their content without intermediaries by using smart contracts. From IP protection to increased revenue for creators, blockchain benefits all industry stakeholders.

3 Practical Use Cases of Blockchain in the Media Industry

• Digital Rights Management: Blockchain secures intellectual property and tracks content ownership through smart contracts and distributed ledgers. This prevents unauthorized distribution and reduces copyright infringement and piracy.
• Micropayments for Content: Through tokenization and cryptographic payments, users pay only for the specific content they use. This enables the monetization of micro-content with lower transaction fees.
• Decentralized Media Platforms: Create decentralized content using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that enable users to control their data. This ensures user sovereignty, censorship resistance, and content democratization.

Startup to look for: Murasaki

Murasaki is a Dutch startup that provides blockchain-based mobile games and digital art. The company integrates Web3 technology to create interactive games and NFTs to empower players to participate in building storylines and virtual economies. The company’s game, Cyberstella, allows players to own and influence the narrative of their characters through NFTs. Murasaki also collaborates with Japanese artists to produce manga, animations, and webtoons, further enriching the gaming ecosystem.

5. CleanTech

Cleantech addresses high energy consumption, carbon emissions, and e-waste within the media industry. By integrating renewable energy and energy-efficient systems, cleantech significantly reduces environmental impact. Key applications include carbon-neutral film production, upcycling waste from production, and virtual production studios that limit travel and waste. These solutions apply across broadcasting, content production, and digital distribution. Cleantech not only delivers cost savings and reduced environmental impact but also strengthens corporate responsibility.

3 Practical Use Cases of Cleantech in the Media Industry

• Sustainable Production: Cleantech reduces carbon footprints in film and TV production through energy-efficient lighting. This renewable energy integration with energy-efficient technologies lowers environmental impact, saves costs, and ensures adherence to sustainability goals.
• Green Data Centers: Media companies create data centers that are powered by renewable energy such as solar power. This reduces costs and lowers the carbon footprint.
• Eco-Friendly Broadcasting: Low-power transmitters and smart energy management systems are few techniques used by media companies to reduce energy consumption in broadcasting equipments and facilities. This reduces operational costs.

Startup to look for: Food as Content

US-based startup Food As Content delivers a sustainable food media production framework for the food industry. The company minimizes environmental impact through green set designs, energy-efficient equipment, and sustainable transportation methods. By partnering with local organizations, the company supports community-centric logistics and ensures its productions leave positive effects. Further, it combines sustainability and creative storytelling for businesses to engage audiences while promoting social responsibility and environmental stewardship.

6. Cloud Computing

Media companies leverage cloud computing to handle data-heavy workflows like AI-driven content creation and predictive analytics. This makes the media environment agile and scalable. As companies are delving into analyzing audience preferences, predicting future trends, or scaling high-resolution projects, cloud computing offers computational power to process large datasets. It also enables real-time analytics for ad campaigns to allow advertisers to track performance metrics such as viewer engagement and click-through rate (CTR). In this way, cloud computing reduces operational costs, improves team collaboration, and enables seamless, scalable content delivery to global audiences.

3 Practical Use Cases of Cloud Computing in the Media Industry

• Content Storage and Distribution: It stores, manages, and distributes large volumes of content globally using cloud storage and content delivery networks (CDNs). This ensures scalability, reduced infrastructure costs, and global content accessibility.
• Remote Collaboration for Production: Cloud computing enables teams to work on media projects remotely in real time. This reduces the need for physical offices while ensuring team flexibility, faster production cycles, and reduced travel costs.
• Live Streaming and On-Demand Services: Cloud encoding and dynamic scaling provide real-time streaming services with minimal latency. This allows media companies to scale for high-traffic events with reduced downtime.

Startup to look for: AIHunters

AIHunters is a US-based startup that offers a video understanding solution to mimic human cognitive processes. The company’s cloud-based system, Cognitive Mill, automates video content analysis using AI and cognitive science. It processes video data at the scene level to identify patterns and make intelligent decisions like human editors. The platform also processes large volumes of video content to significantly reduce manual editing hours. Klipme, AIHunters’s web application, also offers smaller-scale content editing, suitable for social media managers and influencers.

7. Connectivity Technologies

Connectivity technologies solve long-standing issues like latency, bandwidth constraints, and fragmented distribution. The increasing need for advanced rendering tasks has led to GPU-accelerated computing technology for real-time rendering of complex 3D graphics over the cloud. Connectivity is also enabling digital twin environments where real-world locations are replicated in the digital space for media production. Therefore, connectivity technologies enhance user experiences, improve operational efficiency, and allow media companies to scale quickly.

3 Practical Use Cases of Cloud Computing in the Media Industry

• 5G-enabled Streaming: Enhances the quality and speed of media streaming for higher-resolution content and AR/VR applications. Thus, ensuring ultra-low latency, improved streaming quality, and support for immersive media experiences.
• Remote Content Production: Connectivity technologies allow for real-time video capture and editing from multiple remote locations. This reduces time-to-market, improves global collaboration, and lowers production costs.
• Smart Content Distribution: Techniques such as CDNs and network slicing ensure fast and reliable networks to distribute content seamlessly to different devices. This improves cross-platform compatibility and content management efficiency.

Startup to look for: Saviah Technologies

Taiwan-based startup Saviah Technologies develops 5G core network software based on the free5GC open-source platform. The company’s 5G core (5GC) software enhances the performance of 5G mobile networks. This provides end-to-end solutions for 5G private networks (PNs) to support a range of applications. By offering 5GC software as a service, Saviah expands the 5G private network market. This enables efficient communications while fostering business growth for media companies.

8. Internet of Things

IoT devices assist media companies in understanding consumer behavior, enhancing real-time personalization, and improving operational efficiency by enabling real-time data collection and, in turn, analysis. This optimizes content delivery and streamlines operations. IoT is applied to personalize content based on user behavior to improve live streaming, enable immersive AR/VR experiences, and manage media assets with predictive analytics. Some of the application areas include audience engagement and venue management. Finally, IoT enhances audience interaction and enables more innovative and responsive media services.

3 Practical Use Cases of the Internet of Things in Media

• Smart Broadcasting Equipment: IoT devices allow broadcasters to monitor and optimize equipment performance in real time to reduce downtimes. Sensor networks increase operational efficiency and reduce equipment maintenance costs by enabling predictive maintenance.
• Personalized Viewing Experiences: IoT data integrations with machine learning personalization algorithms enable personalized content delivery. This ensures higher engagement through tailored content recommendations.
• Interactive Advertising: IoT enables ads to be delivered across connected home devices to create more engaging and personalized experiences. This ensures high ad engagement, increased conversion rates, and cross-device targeting.

Startup to look for: TOUT Audio

TOUT Audio is a US-based company that offers an AI-enabled shopper marketing solution that delivers targeted, programmatic audio messages in brick-and-mortar retail stores. The company’s technology integrates on-device computer vision and a custom directional speaker to deliver precise, personalized audio messages to shoppers as they browse store aisles. By analyzing shopper behavior, TOUT Audio triggers audio ads at the right moment, based on factors like proximity to products or time of day. Key features include its smart, steerable sound beam that ensures audio reaches only the intended audience and a cloud-based platform for managing and analyzing ad campaigns. This in-store marketing offers brands and retailers a dynamic tool to engage customers and drive sales at the point of purchase.

9. Advanced Robotics

Robotics drives a shift toward precision, efficiency, and enhanced creativity in media industry. It gives opportunities for automation in complex, large-scale media environments that require huge reliance on human labor. For example, humanoids are deployed at conventions and film premiers to interact with attendees and offer unique engagement. Additionally, robots carry out highly dangerous or physically demanding stunts that are too risky for the actors. Robotics boosts operational efficiency, reduces costs, and ensures reliable media production.

3 Practical Use Cases of the Robotics in Media

• Automated Camera Systems: Robotic camera arms and drone automation are used in filming, particularly in complex or dangerous environments. It ensures precision filming with reduced production time.
• Content Creation in 3D animation: Robots assist in rendering and creating complex scenes in 3D to reduce manual labor for animators. This enables faster content creation with improved visual quality.
• Robotic Production Assistants: Automated navigation and object recognition assist in logical tasks on set such as moving ptops and equipment, freeing up human resources. This increases efficiency, reduces production time, and optimizes labor utilization.

Startup to look for: AIR

US-based startup Advanced Image Robotics (AIR) simplifies high-end video capture. Its video production product, AIR One, integrates pan-tilt-zoom functions with digital cinema cameras by managing up to six robotic cameras. It features machine learning-assisted shot automation and real-time monitoring, while AIRcloud supports cloud-based management. This system reduces on-site personnel needs and production costs while streamlining workflows for live events. AIR’s compact, plug-and-play setup allows producers to capture high-quality content more efficiently.

10. Biometrics

Biometrics improves content verification and personalized user interaction in the media sector. These technologies allow media companies to secure the integrity of their content by verifying the source and authorship of media like videos and images. Additionally, biometric data allows businesses to tailor interactions based on unique physical characteristics, which has applications in content personalization and even combating fraudulent bot accounts. Biometrics also safeguard digital media assets from piracy as well as find applications in content protection, targeted advertising, and subscription management.

3 Practical Use Cases of Biometrics in the Media Industry

• User Authentication for Content Access: Facial recognition and fingerprint scanning authenticate users for accessing premium content. This increases security, enhances personalized user experiences, and reduces password dependency.
• Emotional Response-based Content: Biometric sensors gauge the audience’s emotional reactions to tailor content in real time. This leads to improved content personalization, viewer engagement, and content targeting.
• Secure Ad Payments: Fingerprint authentication and voice recognition ensure that only authorized users make payments for digital media services to reduce fraud.

Startup to look for: Winkel

Mexican startup Winkel develops facial detection technology that generates visitor analytics reports for the retail environment. By integrating machine learning and computer vision, its system identifies the demographics of store visitors – including age, gender, and time spent viewing in-store advertising – using cameras and digital displays. This allows companies to analyze shopper behaviors and aid brands optimize their advertising strategies at the point of sale. Winkel’s solution improves in-store security and maximizes advertising impact through targeted digital messaging at critical purchase moments.

Outlook for the Media Industry

Patents & Grants

The media industry demonstrates a strong emphasis on media innovation, as evidenced by the issuance of over 100,000 patents and the awarding of 6,300 grants. This extensive intellectual property portfolio reflects ongoing advancements in media technology, content creation, and distribution methods, positioning the sector for continuous technological growth.

For more actionable insights, download our free Media Technology Innovation Report.

Investment Landscape

Leading investors such as Techstars, Animoca Brands, Google for Startups, Griffin Gaming Partners, and Hype Sports shape the future of the media industry’s financial ecosystem. Funding is concentrated in seed, early-stage VC/Series A, accelerator/incubator, pre-seed, and angel rounds, with an average investment of USD 12.9 million per round, driving innovation across diverse media platforms.

Global Footprint

The media industry supports a global workforce of over 29 million, with a significant presence in the USA, UK, India, Germany, and Canada. Key city hubs such as New York City, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sydney serve as epicenters for creative and technological developments in the sector, fueling its international expansion.

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