Deloitte Says Media Companies Are Turning To Audio And AI To Stay Competitive.

The media and entertainment landscape is undergoing a major reset in 2025, and podcasts and audio platforms are becoming more central to strategies for engagement and growth. Amid broader shifts in entertainment habits—where people now divide their time between TV, movies, streaming video, gaming, and social media—audio is offering both premium content experiences and strong communities of fans that studios and advertisers are eager to reach.

Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends study says podcast listening and video podcast consumption continue to grow, while social audio features are increasingly layered into video and gaming platforms. With six hours a day already devoted to entertainment by U.S. consumers, and little expectation of that number growing, attention is now the most precious commodity—and audio platforms are better positioned than ever to capture it alongside video, social, and gaming.

For traditional media companies, this means competing not only with each other but also with hyperscale social platforms, gaming giants, and emerging digital creators who can leverage technology, data, and AI at massive scale. Meanwhile, audio and podcast communities, particularly those tied to fandoms, are becoming vital channels for engagement and advertising, offering niche and highly loyal audiences.

The Shifting Center of Gravity

TV and movies no longer dominate entertainment time as they once did. Viewers are splitting their time across streaming services, social video, and gaming, and they increasingly expect content that matches their niche interests as much as mainstream blockbusters. Hyperscale tech companies—with their deep investments in AI, cloud, and global data infrastructure—have a distinct advantage, creating formidable "competitive moats" that are tough for traditional studios to cross.

This new reality is forcing studios to rethink old models. The high costs of original content production, coupled with competitive pressures from free, user-generated social video and immersive gaming, have made profitability elusive for many streaming platforms. And while some SVOD players have managed to raise subscription prices or grow into international markets, growth is cooling. Advertising models, once a secondary concern for premium streamers, are now essential to survival.

Data, AI, and the Battle for Ad Dollars

Advertising revenue increasingly flows toward platforms that can offer not just audience scale but deep targeting and measurable performance. Social media platforms and gaming companies that were built for interactivity and rapid data collection now dominate the digital ad ecosystem. To compete, traditional media companies are trying to modernize their ad offerings, investing in programmatic ad tech, better targeting, and cross-platform attribution.

In this environment, podcasts—and the audio advertising around them—have emerged as valuable complements. Podcasts deliver highly engaged listeners, offer unique opportunities for host-read endorsements, and are now increasingly supported by sophisticated targeting and measurement tools. Platforms investing in podcasts and audio storytelling may find themselves better positioned to compete for advertisers seeking meaningful engagement, not just mass impressions.

AI as Both Threat and Opportunity

Generative AI now touches every corner of the M&E business. For the largest tech-driven media companies, it amplifies their ability to personalize content, automate ad optimization, and develop new types of interactive experiences. For studios and independent creators alike, AI promises greater efficiency in production and new ways to expand IP across games, video, and audio formats. But it also threatens to flood the ecosystem with synthetic media, blurring lines between authentic and artificial content.

The companies that master AI without sacrificing trust may be the ones best positioned to thrive in this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous ("VUCA") environment. For traditional media brands, investing in audience understanding—whether through data from podcasts, fandom-driven communities, or advanced audience modeling—will be crucial.

A Marketplace in Flux

Deloitte’s outlook notes that studios may face hard choices in 2025: cut underperforming assets, streamline operations, focus on high-performing IP, and partner or merge to survive in a landscape dominated by asymmetric competition. Gaming, meanwhile, is expected to seek its next growth engine through new experiences, IP crossovers into TV and film, and wider adoption of AI tools.