Bloomberg Screentime 2025: What's coming to the ever-evolving entertainment industry?

Highlights from panel discussions on the current state and future of the film and music industries

This year's event focused on gathering moguls, celebrities, and entrepreneurs defining the next phase of pop culture, including discussions and debates around the future of Hollywood studios, the boom in sports and live music, as well as the impact of AI on the creative industries.

With cords cut and the ability to consume and create in everybody's pocket, culture and community are infinitely accessible. In the race to find success in an increasingly fractured media landscape, the future of what we watch on our screens is up to anyone to decide.

Entertainment industry in the recent years

Despite increase in the media consumption, the industry has been challenged with the global pandemic, writers guild strikes, various mergers and acquisitions, and most recently with further technological advancements.

In the recent months, there have been instances of AI-actors and AI-musicians emerging, with some of them actually signing contracts with labels.

On the other side, lawmakers are also taking steps forward to regulate the business. For instance, California passed laws that prohibit the unauthorized use of AI-generated replicas of an actor's likeness or voice, addressing a major concern in the entertainment industry.

Current landscape & what's coming

Executives from established studios were invited for film panel discussions, however some of the emerging companies like A24, Neon, or Mubi were not included despite their recognition evident in the box office and the awards won in the recent years. On the other hand, in the music section major labels like Universal were absent.

• Warner Bros. Film Chiefs on Mining for Next Big Hits

  At the time of writing of this article, Warner Bros. dominates this year's domestic box office, with the studio producing half of the films in the top 15 - including three among the top five. Despite organizational changes with Warner Bros. Discovery splitting into two entities only 3 years after the initial merger, their innovative cinephile-centric strategy combined with fresh marketing thinking showed promising results this year.

  Warner Brothers' goal was to increase the number of movies made. This year, the company generated over 4 mln gross revenue worldwide, first time since 2019, with just 11 films. Their plan is to finance both original productions and franchize - balancing between different sizes of budgets for different kinds of films as they consider culture around films as a public health matter.

  It ("One Batter After Another"), and "Weapons", and "Sinners" - what those three movies say about the changes for original films to get made from best directors working today, it is where Warner Brothers wants to be.

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• Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters on New Video Games Approach and Live Sports Push

  With the increasing share of non-TV viewing and despite dynamic streaming environment, Netflix's market share remains fairly stable.

  Their current strategy focuses on differentiation of their offering with expenditure into live events including sports, as they see such selection beneficial due to the social relevance - people experience it at the same time. At the same time, they continue to invest in interactive part of business like adding video games to their catalogue or creating so-called Netfix Houses.

  Given those investments, the company has concentrated on improvements in their product, including dynamic recommendations calculation and expanding UI to fit different formats like live events or games. They believe in the diversity of perspectives and creators, and want to continue on this path.

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• David Ellison Lays Out Paramount Skydance Vision

  Despite the decline of the cable network, taking last place as a movie studio, and having a third tier streaming service, Paramount believes in their growth potential and further creating value to shareholders.

  Thanks to their assets like gaming and sports partnerships and the acquisition of The Free Press, unification of tech stacks, and eliminating double-paywall, they believe to become the most technologically capable media company. In terms of their news division, their goal is to be "the most trusted source" by focusing on presenting facts and speaking to around 70% of audience. Paramounts believes in protecting IP rights of the creative output at the same time embracing technology and using it as a tool for artists.

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• Music Mogul Irving Azoff on Future of Live Entertainment

  Irving Azoff, the legend of the music industry and a former CEO of Ticketmaster, expressed his concerns around regulations, also further adding that "YouTube is complacent in every major crime against artists" by paying significantly less in royalties compared to other major streaming services. Azoff also shared plans to rejuvenate artists' catalogues and expressed his strong belief in the promising future of entertainment - for instance, in films being screened in spheres across the country and overseas.

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• Warner Music CEO Kyncl on Music's Next Stage of Growth

  Warner Music believes that in today's world with advanced AI capabilities and democratized distribution, branded recognisable music will be more valuable due to more noise. As a result, there will be a higher need for management companies to support artists' career. Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group, highlights being "bullish on AI to drive industry further".

  The company plans to put more emphasis on music estate management while maintaining the focus on new artists. Additionally, given the significant potential of full artist management, Warner plans to expand its live performance management services to the US and UK, as these are currently offered only in Europe and Asia.

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