Media is blurring its shape. Lines between media types are disappearing, consumers are creators, and entertainment is daubing tech and retail all over itself. Content is ever present, consistent across platforms, and individually personalized. As our physical world blends with virtual worlds, entertainment realities are changing, too.

The media and entertainment industry doesn’t have a choice; it must change. Consumers have upped their baseline expectations as technology has evolved, and competitors for consumer time aren’t limited to traditional media. If we look across current forms of media, consumers multitask with other media more than 55% of the time.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many of the trends of the past 5 to 10 years, including the outsized growth in digital media consumption and consumers’ ability to access content from just about anywhere. Increases in consumer participation and the exponential development of technologies like 5G will accelerate the disruption, driving six big shifts in media and entertainment. Some build on existing trends, and others read like sci-fi. All of them are very real, and they’re reshaping our world.

01 – DELIVERY
Faster download speeds on phones have raised the bar on “I want all of it, right here, right now.” In the first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic, streaming viewership on phones grew more than 40%. Think about that. At a time when people were sitting at home in front of their huge screens, they still wanted to watch video on the tiny screens they carry around all day.

In addition to demanding the content they want, where they want it, and when they want it, consumers also expect that content to be interconnected. That’s where we start to see cohesion become critical across media platforms, and media start to blend into other sectors, such as retail. Because we love lists of three, let’s consider three aspects of omnipresent delivery.

• Instant gratification
  If a consumer wants your content, it had better be available right now, on the device at hand.
• Unified platforms
  Successful intellectual property engages audiences across formats and channels consistently. A franchise means that if someone watches a show, reads a tweet, or picks up a toy related to a piece of IP, it all feels cohesive. Think Marvel.
• Live commerce
  Media increasingly incorporates shopping experiences because consumers Want. It. Now. Think of Shopify plug-ins on Instagram, the little “Shop Now” banner that takes you right to a product page. And shopping experiences will grow and spread: We’re going to see shoppable ads in streaming services, and eventually shoppable content baked into the entertainment itself.

02 – MY MEDIA
Me! Everything is about me. Or, actually, everything is about the individual consumer and his or her niche communities. Companies that can use data to personalize and customize their content and delivery will win hearts and minds (and money). This shift, like omnipresent delivery, isn’t a new one, but it’s increasingly becoming a baseline expectation, and the subshifts are growing stronger.

• My squad
  Consumers build their media engagement around their identities, particularly in an online world with hyper niche communities. Platforms that tap into these niches, as Crunchyroll has with anime fans, deliver not only content but communities as well.
• Customized curation
  Recommendation algorithms powered the success of many services now considered digital giants (Netflix, Spotify, TikTok). AI will take this to the next level, with features like mood-matched recommendations that are not just right for you, they’re right for you right now.
• Personalized creation
  Curation is one thing, but as media becomes more interactive, audiences will want content just for them. Netflix took a first step toward this with Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, its digital update to the choose-your-own-adventure story. We should expect that more data and better AI will deliver an influx of 1:1 content programming.

03 – GLOBAL APERTURE
One of the most exciting things to come out of a more connected world was, well, the world. Content exposure increased, global connections increased, and a demand for authenticity and an understanding of the diverse world we live in increased. A more interconnected world means the ability to reach niche audiences with locally tailored content—and the ability to hold the media accountable for diverse, global representation.

• Access everywhere
  One great thing about the Internet is that it dissolves many global borders. Consumers seek out international content, music and shows reach across borders and cultures, and media markets are converging. Just look at how markets are measured: In September 2020, Billboard started tracking the top Global 200 songs, expanding beyond its traditional US focus.
• Blended content
  International styles are blended to create fresh, cross-cultural experiences. Look again to music: BTS, one of the world’s biggest K-pop groups, scored their first US No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 in August 2020 with their English-language track “Dynamite,” which combines English lyrics with a K-pop sensibility.
• Mirror to the world
  Audiences want to see the world’s diversity reflected in the music they listen to and the videos they watch.
  The traditional white-cis-het outlook of US media giants doesn’t cut it anymore—and it won’t remain profitable. For example, the success of Crazy Rich Asians in the US, Europe, and other major markets reset expectations of what a film with an all-Asian cast could achieve. Research at UCLA has shown that inclusive representation is also critical behind the camera to create authentic content that will appeal to consumers.

04 – CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Digital media doesn’t just mean the big guys have more nimble ways of delivering content—the little guys have it all, too. Are you a dancer? Show off your moves on TikTok. Take great photos? Upload them to Instagram. Need to fund your writing career? Find a paying audience for your stories on Wattpad.

Not only are individual creators leveraging increasingly professional tools and easy uploads to pour passion into platforms they’ve never had access to before, but established content also lives on. Creators can edit, remix, and mash content, post it on social feeds, and watch it evolve as other producers put their own spin on it for the world to consume.

• Democratized platforms
  Nearly 80% of US media consumers use social media, which means that if there’s someone you want to reach, there’s a platform to do it—whatever kind of creator you are. Audiences are spreading their attention, and viewership extends well beyond professionally produced content; despite all the slickly programmed, purely studio-level competition, YouTube’s top 10 most-subscribed channels include PewDiePie, Kids Diana Show, and Vlad and Niki, each featuring original creator content.
• Passion economy
  Just as there are ways for consumer producers to reach people, there are ways to turn that reach into money.
  Ad-supported platforms mesh with the traditional media mindset, but individual sponsorships, product collaborations, and funding platforms such as Patreon are all viable financial sources.
• Living content
  Parents warn their kids that what they post on the Internet lives forever, and they’re right, it does, but in more than a static form. Fan edits, remixes, and adaptations take original material and run with it, giving control to more creators. The tools to do this get better every day, and so does the content. Big producers that embrace this, rather than fight it, will connect with bigger audiences.

05 – EMERGING METAVERSE
If you hear “metaverse” and think video games, you’re not wrong, but it goes beyond that. (If you think Superman, then we applaud DC Comics for their effective content delivery.)

Nearly two decades ago, Linden Labs’ Second Life became an early leader in showing how powerful and compelling online communities of avatar residents can be, and myriad online communities have emerged as gaming worlds have become more complex. The idea of living in a metaverse has only increased as commerce, culture, and multiplayer role-playing games have converged in virtual worlds. This includes day-to-day interactions in popular games such as Animal Crossing and Minecraft, and in one-off events such as Fortnite’s Travis Scott concert, Astronomical, which attracted more than 12 million live viewers and over 45 million total in-game views.

As virtual worlds have developed, they have incorporated concerts, shopping, and other experiences that were once thought of as only physical. These worlds create alternate lives for their users, and the idea of alternate virtual environments will slowly infuse daily life beyond gamers.

• Secondary world
  In the classic metaverse, digital users with personalized avatars can share experiences and engage in
  self-expression in a virtual world. Advanced digital tools, such as motion capture, will transform live experiences into larger-than-life virtual events, like the Travis Scott concert.
• E-sports
  In-game experiences are becoming our reality. Video game tournaments will gain the prominence of live sports as competitive gaming is professionalized. Physical viewing and “real-life” fandom and betting experiences will layer on top of players competing in
  in-game metaverse experiences.
• In-world economies
  Real money underpins digital economies. Game developers depend on in-game purchases of digital equipment and supplies, and as more people spend time in the metaverse, this revenue stream will grow, supported by the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

06 – BEYOND REALITY
Virtual environments exist online today, but they’re beginning to merge with our physical reality. Augmented reality (AR), in particular, supported by AI, is likely to be more transformative than virtual reality (VR) in the near-term, given the ability to seamlessly layer AR on top of our daily life. The next wave of technology will expand the potential for human-machine interactions, blending on-screen experiences with our physical world. For example, in April 2021 the Los Angeles County Museum of Art teamed up with Snap to offer five AR-enhanced exhibits around the city, allowing viewers to see virtual art displays through their phones.

Although nimble software and consumer-friendly form factors are still a barrier to widespread consumer adoption, particularly for VR, those issues won’t last forever. After all, Apple’s original personal digital assistant, Newton, was too clunky to capture the world’s attention. Then Apple invented the iPhone.

• AI-powered environments
  Intuitive, responsive technologies will elevate our daily interactions by anticipating our needs and desires. We already tell our voice assistants what song to play, but eventually our environments will know us well enough to know what to play, and when. Immersive and interactive entertainment will imbue our environments.
• Virtual gatherings
  The pandemic has accelerated digital community engagement, from our daily Zoom calls to the NBA’s collaboration with Microsoft Teams to bring fans into a virtual, interactive arena. But as virtual worlds become more common, and as augmented and virtual realities improve, it will become easier to sit in the same room with people across the country or across the world.
• Blended reality
  Our digital and physical lives will lose their separateness as we expand our definition of reality and digital interactions hold near-equal weight as in-person ones. If this sounds far-fetched, imagine going back to the 1980s and explaining to your grandparents that you’re marrying someone you met online. We no longer think twice about online dating. But the Internet wasn’t a community, until it was, and the digital world will remain separate from our own, until it isn’t

IMPLICATIONS
Some of these shifts are happening faster than others. One lens to measure their pace and strength is venture capital (VC) investment, which doesn’t capture investment by incumbents, but can show which technologies are drawing investors’ interest.

Categorizing VC investments in 2020 shows that trends like omnipresent delivery, my media, and consumer producers pop more than others. These should be on every media company’s radar today.

Trends such as emerging metaverse and beyond reality garner some investment, but it isn’t as much—which isn’t surprising. The metaverse is more “in development,” and video game companies are the best positioned to invest there. For instance, in April, Epic Games announced it was raising $1 billion to develop its metaverse.

Beyond reality is even further off, and the largest investments are from tech giants like Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. Global aperture draws the smallest investment, but this may be less about its importance and more about this being a shift in attitude rather than tech-driven innovation.

The investment data shows all six shifts are underway. Whether you’re a media executive, an investor, or an increasingly involved consumer, think about how they’ll affect you. Those who understand how these shifts could reshape markets and open new opportunities will gain a competitive edge, while those who sit comfortably on traditional business rhythms will scramble to catch up.