Communications and Media

Rise of the new media finance organization

August 28, 2021

3-MINUTE READ

In brief

There are seismic shifts taking place in the media industry that are redefining what it takes to deliver results for film and T.V. content creators.
New distribution models and shifting consumer behaviors have left finance teams without the ability to accurately project film and content ROI.
We examine five trends and five strategies for media finance organizations as they adapt to a new way of doing business and growing revenue.

Future of finance in media

When it comes to projecting how much money a film - or other pieces of content might make - very little has changed in the last 30 years. Fast forward to today and the media industry is undergoing massive change, leaving the trusted and decades-old spreadsheets, formulas and algorithms virtually useless.

With the onslaught of streaming services and new models for rolling out films and content, the same tools and analytics for ROI projection don’t work anymore. Not only are films and content now being distributed differently, but consumer behavior is also changing and people are watching more streaming services and less paid TV, or cutting the cord all together. This has disrupted the flow of money back to the original film or content investment, leaving media finance organizations without the ability to accurately project ROI.

These changes are driving finance organizations to rethink the way they have done business for decades and reimagine new strategies and solutions to adapt and succeed for the long-term. In fact, a recent Accenture report cited the critical need for CFOs to leverage technology to address the massive scale and swift pace required for today’s decision making. This report highlighted that media finance CFOs are not alone in their need for digital transformation.

Explore the SlideShare as we examine the five trends behind this industry-wide transformation and explore the solutions that can be used to turn this industry shift into a global opportunity for finance teams.

The time to transition is now

The capabilities and insights delivered by a finance transformation are especially important now, as the digital economy deals with high levels of uncertainty, volatility and complexity. Our experience confirms that organizations that have taken steps to digitize finance and other key functions are better positioned to bounce back from difficult conditions and seize new opportunities as they appear.

Organizations that embrace a new paradigm of breakthrough speed—with faster, data-driven decisions, better collaboration and new skill sets—have an opportunity to generate significantly higher value. And CFOs report that they are positioned to lead their organizations toward faster decision-making through an enterprise-wide digital transformation. We have found four key benefits within media finance & accounting teams:

Ad sales, talent & licensing finance

With automation handling processing & revenue recognition, the team spends more time on accuracy & deal analysis of ad sales & licensing.

Accounting, audit & tax

With controls in place, teams can now anticipate compliance risks before they happen and help remediate the risk.

FP&A treasury

These teams can now shift their focus from backward-looking collecting to forward-looking scenario planning.

Production finance

With a simplified process of gathering and ingesting 3P production cost updates, these teams can dig into the numbers to optimize spending.

Clearly, there is a sea change happening in media finance organizations. These changes should not be feared, but rather embraced by finance teams because they represent enormous opportunities not only for their companies, but also for their own personal growth.