Although consumers are using and enjoying media & entertainment products in increasing numbers, dramatic changes in industry fundamentals have presented a whole set of strategic, operational, and financial challenges. Consolidation, new technologies, threats to copyrights, rising talent costs, and changing advertiser needs are just some of the issues confronting media & entertainment CEOs.

In pursuit of growth, media industry leaders are a grappling with a complex set of forces reshaping their businesses:

• Scale and reach. Consolidation continues to drive media deals and partnerships either through deregulation, the need to achieve national or global scale, and to optimize efficiencies.
• Rising talent costs. In an increasingly fragmented marketplace, talent remains the most precious asset and consolidating media businesses must continue to ensure that they have the structures and culture to promote creativity and innovation.
• Operations and execution. Whether seeking to retain customers, enhance subscription revenues, or retool advertising sales for a greater share of the pie, media & entertainment companies should focus on developing the capabilities needed to win in the marketplace.
• Technology. No longer a back-office tool, media CEOs are discovering that effective IT strategy can drive efficiencies through the organization and enhance existing products.
• Digital business models. Content businesses have been in a “make or break” struggle to create viable interactive businesses that cater to consumer expectations and mitigate the growing piracy crisis. Content companies, distributors, and hardware manufacturers need to collaborate to devise legitimate alternatives to file-swapping that offer at least the same choice and access to what is available illicitly on-line, and are superior in other ways such as safety and quality.

In this unprecedented age of consumer choice and business opportunities, the challenge is to identify those specific opportunities that will result in the greatest performance improvement and then develop an overall program to drive change.