If you’ve worked in technology within the media and entertainment (M&E) market segment, you know that cloud adoption has been a sometimes-controversial topic over the years. Unlike other industries, the primary product that M&E produces is digital files (movies, short films, television episodes, etc.). Therefore, digital storage could be the single most important technology decision an M&E company can make.  

Traditionally, M&E held onto those assets so tightly because the idea of storing them in data centers meant that their data—read: products—would be far away and abstracted. But spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the M&E industry has embraced the overwhelming value that the cloud brings to digital storage, opening entire new revenue streams and optimizations that just aren’t possible when your library is only available on premises.   

The M&E industry's adoption of cloud technology presents a nuanced view. While it is clear that the industry is increasingly moving towards the cloud for various advantages, comparing its adoption rate directly to other industries, such as manufacturing, reveals differences in pace and focus areas.  

For the M&E sector, cloud technology is leveraged primarily to meet the rising demand for Over-the-Top (OTT) streaming services, providing digital content directly to customers over the internet. This shift is driven by consumer preferences for streaming platforms, allowing access to content anytime and anywhere​​. The cloud enables M&E companies to reduce headcount and real estate costs significantly, transforming traditional operations into more agile and cost-effective digital workflows​​. However, the transition is met with challenges, such as complex fees and cybersecurity concerns, which are considered major hurdles​​, especially for bigger studios. Once again, their livelihoods are these digital assets.  

In comparison, the manufacturing industry, often cited as one of the most advanced sectors in cloud adoption, has seen substantial benefits from its cloud journey. Manufacturers report improved productivity, better planning and decision-making, and enhanced quality control due to cloud adoption. The cloud has enabled manufacturers to centralize, standardize, and bring transparency to data, thus supporting key operational transformations and even contributing to increased revenue​​. 

The M&E industry's concerns around API fees and cybersecurity highlight a more cautious approach to cloud migration, focusing on understanding costs and ensuring data security. Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector's emphasis on productivity, decision-making, and quality control indicates a strategic use of cloud technology to enhance operational efficiencies and competitiveness. 

But in 2023, we saw a major shift for M&E. According to Wasabi’s Cloud Storage Index, an independently conducted survey of over 1200 respondents globally, 27% of M&E respondents consider themselves cloud-first when it comes to IT service adoption. And when it comes to storage, 97% of M&E respondents say they plan to increase the amount of data they store in the cloud compared to an average of 93% across industries.  

It will be important for M&E to also start adopting cloud cost optimization as it has fallen behind compared to their peers. Across all industries, organizations spend on average 47% of their cloud storage budgets on data usage, access fees, and egress charges – not on storage capacity. M&E is worse off with 51% of the costs dedicated to fees. As for budgets, globally, 53% of organizations exceeded their budgeted spend on cloud storage in 2023. In M&E, however, a whopping 79% of organizations exceeded their cloud storage budgets.

The trajectory of cloud storage adoption in the M&E market segment underscores a massive shift for the industry. And as such, these organizations will need to start thinking about cost optimization and other strategies (such as multi-cloud) to boost the underlying unit economics of their business. When it comes to cloud storage, adopting Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage product as part of a broader multi-cloud approach will save organizations close to 80% of their cloud storage spend. This is because Wasabi doesn’t charge any fees for egress, API requests, or data access. It simply charges $6.99/TB, which in and of itself is a sizeable difference compared to other hyperscaler per TB object storage pricing.  

Since the cloud storage cost with Wasabi is forecastable, we shouldn’t see M&E organizations exceeding their budgets or wasting spend on unpredictable fees. When M&E organizations choose Wasabi, they’re choosing the scalability of the cloud with the simplicity of on-premises storage.