The State of Finance in Media

The Challenges and Opportunities 

Hiring freezes and slow advertising spending made the early months of 2023 difficult for publishers. Yet, with summer in full swing, the market has thawed. As advertisers rethink their long-term strategies, publishers have an opportunity to address concerns, overcome challenges, and meet new demands. 

While no one can see into the future, digital advertising is often a barometer for how other industries perceive the economy. As a weathervane for culture, it’s important to examine the big financial picture and prioritize tactics that inspire optimism—not worry. 

In our most recent Industry Snapshot: Finance in Media, we explored some of the hurdles the industry is facing, as well as emerging trends that address the turbulent first half of the year. Read the full report here.  

Addressing cost, workforce, and technology 

Most media companies are grappling with the same set of challenges. These issues are largely driven by the accelerating march toward digital transformation—a change that has created big wins for publishers, as well as new headaches. 

As new technologies proliferated in the office, Finance talent often fell behind. Training the workforce on how to work with new software effectively, apply data to strategy, and analyze and interpret the numbers can pay back publishers tenfold. 

While many media businesses have hurried to integrate the hottest technologies into their operations, not all have seen a return from these investments, creating a pressing need to cut costs. 

The trends 

While Finance departments are attempting to do more with less in 2023, several strategies are supporting their efforts, including adopting AI, prioritizing decision-ready data, and finding creative ways to reduce overhead (and effectively reinvest the savings). 

Among U.S. professionals, AI adoption is skyrocketing, with an annual growth rate anticipated to approach 40%. About a quarter of businesses have or are adopting AI tools. Finance is no different. Finance leaders are deploying AI to manage historically manual and time-consuming tasks and accelerate and automate many functions. 

AI has the power to reduce overhead and precisely collect and analyze data, which supports other emergent industry trends. 

AI can help keep expenses low, reducing overhead while supporting workflows that produce decision-ready data. This data helps teams take action by automating reporting and governance and assessing large volumes of information to generate the most optimized and accurate recommendations. 

Getting ahead of the curve 

Real-time sales data, automated insights, and easily integrated technology are just a few of the pieces that separate an agile Finance department from one that is barely keeping up. 

A first step in overcoming the most pressing challenges while continuously innovating is to stay abreast of the latest industry developments. It’s difficult to anticipate future challenges if you don’t know where the industry is heading. To stay ahead, read our latest ebook, Industry Snapshot: Finance, to map to game-winning strategy in 2023. 

Download the ebook: Finance in Media - Overcoming Industry Challenges and Capitalizing on Trends to Maximize Sustainable Revenue Growth.