Generative AI can reduce production costs and accelerate creative work across the media industry, but those gains will not be evenly distributed. Smaller creators and studios can expand their output beyond what their resources previously allowed. For larger organizations, the initial benefits are likely to center on efficiency, even as smaller competitors gain capabilities that once required substantial investment. 

Deloitte’s 2026 Media and Entertainment Industry Outlook examines how this shift changes the competition for attention. As production capabilities become more widely available, established content, recognizable brands and audience relationships become central to differentiation. The commercial question is how media companies use these assets to create experiences audiences value and strengthen their reasons to return. 

Creating new experiences around familiar content 

Personalized updates offer an ongoing connection to a favorite show or franchise beyond the original viewing experience. In Deloitte’s separate 2026 Digital Media Trends survey, 27% of fans express interest in a Gen AI digest combining streaming, social, podcast and actor updates. Interest reaches 32% among Gen Z fans and 34% among millennial fans. For news and sports publishers, AI-generated recaps and short-form clips offer ways to extend the usefulness of coverage beyond its initial publication or broadcast. 

Participation goes further by opening parts of the creative experience to audiences. Nearly a quarter of fans, 24%, want the option to cocreate with Gen AI, such as developing alternative endings to shows or movies. Deloitte discusses hosting these activities within brand-owned services, where terms and controls could govern how people generate and share content. Nearly 40% of fans would accept AI-created entertainment content if it is clearly labeled. 

These possibilities bring product development and rights decisions into the same conversation. Cocreation can change how audiences interact with a property and how its owner manages that participation. The outlook raises the prospect of new revenue streams and partnerships around cocreation and production tools. Audience interest provides a starting point for experimentation. Testing repeat use, conversion, and willingness to pay can help companies determine which experiences support sustained engagement and revenue. 

Knowing the audience behind the activity 

An expanded content experience also depends on understanding what people value and how they engage. Audiences move among social feeds, streaming services, podcasts, games and live events, leaving interactions in disconnected systems. A company may know how a title performs within its own service while having limited visibility into the surrounding activity. 

This fragmentation complicates the connection between discovery, engagement, and revenue. Deloitte describes an incomplete view of preferences, interactions, transactions and service histories that make long-term audience value difficult to understand. 

Data infrastructure, metadata, and analytics therefore sit alongside creative capabilities in the outlook. They support content planning, discovery, recommendations, and monetization. The report discusses AI broadly in these areas; Gen AI is one part of a wider effort to connect audience knowledge with content and product decisions. As AI expands the supply of content, discovery becomes a greater competitive challenge. Helping audiences find relevant work within a company’s own services can support engagement and improve the value of existing catalogs. 

Making experimentation part of the business 

Short-form content brings several of these questions together. It offers a setting for testing stories and formats, developing talent and building interest before committing to larger production budgets. Gen AI can accelerate this work, while audience response helps inform which ideas merit further investment. 

Deloitte also describes creators as potential business partners who can extend the life of IP and connect it with new audiences. Their role combines creative output with community relationships and rapid experimentation, capabilities that become more valuable as content supply grows. 

Moving these activities into recurring business processes involves more than giving individual teams access to tools. The outlook connects Gen AI adoption with creative workflows, production pipelines, audience analytics and operations, supported by governance, privacy and IP protections. These protections also shape audience trust. Clear labeling, editorial oversight, and transparency about data use can help companies introduce AI-enabled experiences while maintaining confidence in their brands. 

As Gen AI expands production capabilities across the industry, established media companies face greater pressure to translate their content, brands and expertise into sustained audience value. That requires connecting creative experimentation with audience-understanding, effective discovery. and clear protections for trust and rights. The opportunity is to use AI to strengthen the experiences and relationships that give audiences a reason to choose their services and return to them.