The video industry is on the verge of significant transformation, driven by the rising demand for smarter content discovery, personalized experiences, and AI-powered solutions. As competition intensifies and consumer expectations evolve, operators are shifting their focus from simply acquiring customers to retaining them—and it’s no surprise. Retention, driven by a seamless user experience (UX) and tailored content, will be a top priority for video services in 2025 and beyond.
At Media Distillery, we’re already at the forefront of this shift, creating innovative solutions to optimize viewer engagement and improve content discoverability. Here’s how we see the landscape evolving and how we are ready to embrace the future.
While there’s a lot of hype around AI in the video industry, its real value lies in solving real-world challenges. At Media Distillery, we’ve always focused on creating practical AI solutions that deliver tangible benefits to operators and viewers alike. By harnessing AI strategically, we can enhance content recommendations, optimize ad breaks, and streamline time-consuming processes.
In 2025, we expect to see AI transform content discovery in the following ways:
In 2025, we expect to see the industry shift its focus beyond just growing the subscriber base. Retention will become the new acquisition. Operators will need to deepen their relationships with users to ensure they spend more time watching content and stay engaged with the platform. The days of blindly throwing content at viewers and hoping it sticks are over. The key will be delivering content that’s both relevant and easy to find, reducing the time viewers spend searching.
At Media Distillery, we understand that engagement is driven by UX. We're working to help operators improve the time it takes for viewers to discover content they enjoy. Our solutions, such as Preview Distillery and Topic Distillery, aim to reduce frustration and make content more accessible, ensuring users spend more time watching and less time searching.
As viewers face an increasing number of choices, discoverability has become a growing concern. In 2025, we expect operators to focus heavily on improving the way users find content.
We’re always looking to develop innovative solutions like Preview Distillery, which launched in 2024 to great interest from operators at the possibility of automatically providing tailored short-form content previews. These previews help viewers make quicker decisions, eliminating frustration and improving overall satisfaction. By integrating these previews into platforms, we can significantly reduce the time users spend browsing, helping them get to their next show or movie faster.
This is just one example of how we’re using technology to make content discovery smarter and more intuitive. As AI continues to evolve, the ability to offer hyper-personalized recommendations will become a game-changer. Operators who successfully implement these advancements will benefit from increased engagement and reduced churn.
Advertising will continue to be an important revenue stream in 2025, but operators will face the challenge of delivering ads that don’t detract from the viewing experience. With viewers becoming increasingly selective about the ads they tolerate, operators must adopt smarter, more relevant ad strategies. Operators tell us they’re looking for more flexible ad models, such as allowing users to skip or replace ads, which would enhance the user experience and create new monetization opportunities.
At Media Distillery, we’re already helping operators optimize ad delivery with Ad Break Distillery, ensuring that ads are both relevant and non-intrusive. Operators can seamlessly replace traditional ad breaks with more tailored advertising experiences, providing a range of options for managing ad inventory - such as dynamically replacing ads, enforcing ad break trick play restrictions, or allowing premium ad-skipping. This enhanced flexibility not only improves the viewing experience but also opens up additional revenue streams.
Looking ahead, we anticipate a rise in contextual advertising—ads that are more relevant to the viewer’s experience rather than disruptive interruptions. Context Distillery helps operators achieve this by automatically detecting the topics featured in a program so that valuable, content-specific ads can be shown within or beside video content. Combined with more flexible ad models, this approach ensures advertising remains a powerful driver of revenue without compromising the quality of the viewing experience.
Sports broadcasting remains one of the most important and lucrative areas for video operators, but fans are demanding more. They don’t just want to watch the game—they want access to additional content, stats, and analysis. In 2025, operators will have to deliver richer, more personalized sports viewing experiences that go beyond the basics of the live broadcast.
At Media Distillery, we see an opportunity to elevate the sports viewing experience with AI-driven solutions that automatically tag content with relevant stats, highlights, and behind-the-scenes footage. Our Topic Distillery for Sports solution allows operators to tag live broadcasts with relevant data, such as player stats and match highlights, giving fans a richer viewing experience. These innovations not only help viewers find the content they’re most interested in but also extend the value of live sports by providing additional engaging content after the game has ended. This value was demonstrated in our trial of Topic Distillery for Sports with Liberty Global which won a host of awards in 2024.
2025 will be a year of transformation and opportunity. Operators who embrace the evolving demands of the market—through smarter personalization, better ad solutions, and enhanced engagement—will be the ones who thrive.
Media Distillery is committed to helping our partners and customers navigate this changing landscape. Our suite of AI-powered tools is designed to enhance the entire viewer experience, from content discovery to ad optimization. To gain a deeper understanding of how AI is shaping the future of video services, explore our insights. In our article, Navigating OTT’s AI hype: Five key takeaways from five years of hands-on experience, we share key lessons learned and practical applications from our extensive work in the OTT space. Additionally, our AI Today: Innovations, Challenges, and Opportunities e-guide provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in AI, the challenges the industry faces, and the significant opportunities available to operators looking to stay ahead.
As the video industry continues to innovate, we’re excited to be at the forefront of these changes, driving both efficiency and satisfaction for operators and viewers alike.
If you're ready to take the next step and explore how Media Distillery’s solutions can transform your platform, get in touch today. We’d love to show you how our solutions can help you stay ahead of the curve and unlock new opportunities in 2025.
January 7, 2025
