MEDIAThe Rates of Success, Goals, and Future Priorities
of Digital Transformations, by Sector

The key ﬁndings for media companies
Media companies have a digitaltransformation success rate of 30%,
roughly on a par with thecross-sector average, but they showa wide range of scores relative toother sectors, reﬂecting the mix oflegacy and digital players.

Top-quartile media companies nailthe six key success factors, but more
typical media companies struggle onfour of the six.

Media companies have emphasized
growth and business model
innovation, ecosystem partnerships,
marketing and pricing, and new
business ventures more thancompanies in other industries.

Going forward, successful digital
players are pivoting to muchbroader adoption of digital
approaches across the entire value
chain and support functions.

The forward-looking digital agendaemphasizes customer acquisitionand engagement; next-generation
marketing, operations, and support
functions; and content production
and management.

ESG considerations—especiallythose related to data privacy,diversity and inclusion, and cyber
resilience—are becoming more
important in the digital agenda.

Source: BCG analysis.

The data in more depth

Rates of successin digitaltransformation

Source: BCG analysis.

Topics of focus
for media
companies

Top priorities forthe future

The criticalhuman andtech enablers

The role of ESG
in digitaltransformation

RATES OF SUCCESS

Only 30% of media companies land in the win zone, slightly below thecross-industry average
CASES BELOW SUCCESS SCORE (%)
10080

Media data points
Media60
40

Cross-industry

2021 cross-industry
average: 7.4

Media sector
average: 7.2

Woe zone (success score <6)
Worry zone (success score ≥6–<8)

20Win zone (success score ≥8)00246810
SUCCESS SCORE1

2021 BCG Global Digital
Transformation Survey overall

Media sector

13%

52%

35%

13%

56%

31%

Limited value created(<50% of target); nosustainable change

Value created but total Target value met ortargets not met;
exceeded; sustainable
limited long-term change change created

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
Note: Survey question: “Across the following dimensions, please rate your organization’s digital transformation experience to date on a scale of 1 to 10, using the guidelines in the table below.”
1Success score is calculated from respondents’ answers on six dimensions of transformation: strategy; leadership; talent; agility; monitoring; and tech and data.

RATES OF SUCCESSMedia companies struggle most with deploying high-caliber talent, having
an agile governance mindset, and monitoring progress eﬀectively
DISTRIBUTION OF SUCCESS SCORES ON INDIVIDUAL KEY FACTORS1

1234

5678

9107.4

1

Integrated strategy with clear transformation goals

2

Leadership commitment from CEO through middle management3

Deployment of high-caliber talent

4An agile governance mindset that drives broader adoption

5Eﬀective monitoring of progress toward deﬁned outcomes6

Business-led modular technology and data platform

Lower extreme Media average

0

7.9
6.7
6.6
6.6
6.8

Upper or lower quartile Upper extremeWoe zone (success score <6)

Worry zone (success score ≥6–<8)

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
Note: Survey question: “Across the following dimensions, please rate your organization’s digital transformation experience to date on a scale of 1 to 10 using the guidelines in the table below.”
1Success score is calculated from respondents’ answers on six dimensions of transformation: strategy; leadership; talent; agility; monitoring; and tech and data.

Win zone (success score ≥8)

TOPICS OF FOCUS

The transformation priorities for media companies have been growth andbusiness model innovation, and customer experience and journeys
Strategic objectives

Scope of digital transformation1

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS (%)

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS (%)

34

Improvement incustomer experienceand go-to-market

CROSS-INDUSTRYAVERAGE (%)

Growth and business model innovation

81

72

Customer experience and journeys

78

81

Digital ecosystem and partnerships

7665Sales and market acceleration

73

71

Marketing and dynamic pricing
34

1615

Innovation and growthin the core and beyond
Performance improvement
through the operational
value chain
Performance improvementin support functions

62

New business venture

57

Building resilience via cybersecurity
and compliance49

Digitizing support functions

46

Digital procurement

41

Supply chain
Digital manufacturing and operations

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
Note: Because of rounding, the percentages given for the strategic objectives do not add up to 100%.
1
Respondents were asked to select all priorities that applied.

35
2441455445544850

TOPICS OF FOCUS

Win-zone media companies have greater breadth of transformation focus
Scope of digital transformation

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS (%)
14 pp
23 pp

90
77

27 pp
17 pp

100

90

86
7325 pp1007329 pp
0 pp

50

50

70

Growth andbusinessmodel
innovation

Sales andmarket
acceleration

Digitalecosystem
andpartnerships

Woe- and worry-zone media companies (combined)

Digitizing
supportfunctions

60

7 pp

41
27

Customerexperience
andjourneys

55

3 pp

37 pp

80

30

Supply chain

Win-zone media companies

23

Building
resilience via
cybersecurity
and complianceMarketinganddynamicpricing

Change of +5 pp or less

30

Digitalmanufacturing
and operations

23Digital
procurement

Change of more than +5 pp

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
Note: Survey question: “From the list of most common digital outcome areas and enablers in digital transformation, please help us identify the scope of your digital transformation (select all that apply).”

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Nearly all media companies intend to invest in three key digital topics
PLANNED SHARE OF WALLET SPENDING ALLOCATED ACROSS DIGITAL TOPICS IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS (%)197Digital customeracquisition and engagement

2597Digital support
functions and operations
Smart content management

2195
1889

Advertising

Smart content production

1986
17
Share of respondents allocating any investment toward each digital topic

Average share of total investment

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey.
1For example, the uppermost pair of bars can be read as “97% of media respondents plan to invest in digital customers acquisition and engagement, allocating an average 25% of total digital investment.”

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Media companies’ digital priorities: Digital customer acquisitionand engagement
Digital initiatives (bars indicate relative prioritization of initiatives)
Conversion rate optimization

1.00

Data-driven recommendation engine

0.72

Dynamic pricing optimization (e.g., individualprices and context-reference prices)

0.49

Omnichannel presence to increase customer touch points

0.43

Personalized site/app designing

0.40

Smart searching (predictive, voice-enabled, etc.)

0.23

Predictive lead generation and management

0.22

Immersive customer experience (AR/VR)
Relative prioritization for all media companies
Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 37.

0.14
Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Media companies’ digital priorities: Digital support functions and operations
Digital initiatives (bars illustrate relative prioritization of initiatives)
End-to-end record-to-report digitization of ﬁnance activities

1.0

End-to-end source-to-contract digitization for contracting

0.98

End-to-end hire-to-retire digitization (includingintegrated training) for HR

0.73

End-to-end contact-to-resolve digitization for contact center

0.63

End-to-end order-to-cash digitization for
management of accounts receivable

0.57

End-to-end procure-to-pay digitization for procurement
Automatic capture and processing of legal
terms of (media) licenses contracts
Relative prioritization for all media companies
Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 37.

0.49
0.46
Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Media companies’ digital priorities: Advertising
Digital initiatives (bars illustrate relative prioritization of initiatives)
Personalization and targeted advertising

1.0Intelligent customer segmentation for advertisers

0.50
0.44

Advertisement yield optimization
Inventory planning: Forecast and optimize media inventory

0.38

Conversion rate optimization

0.28

Multichannel advertisement

0.20

Multiformat advertisement

0.12

Relative prioritization for all media companies

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 37.

Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Media companies’ digital priorities: Smart content management
Digital initiatives (bars illustrate relative prioritization of initiatives)
Automated metadata generation for content

1.0

Predicting the reach of content (through characters,actors, broadcasting time, etc.)

0.86

Real-time tracking and prediction of social reputation

0.69

Monitoring and optimization of distribution of physical assets

AI-driven copyright infringement detection and mitigation (auto-block)

Relative prioritization for all media companies

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 37.

0.64

0.59

Top priorities for win-zone companies

TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE

Media companies’ digital priorities: Smart content production
Digital initiatives (bars indicate relative prioritization of initiatives)
Content production driven by historical and customer-behavior data

1.0

Automating content creation workﬂows

0.79

Smart content generation from structured datasets (using AI and NLP)

0.73

Live content creation with customers via digital channels

0.64

Automated translation and localization

0.21

Rapid iteration based on real-time feedback
Automated content license optimization

0.16
0.08

Relative prioritization for all media companies
Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 37.
Note: AI = artiﬁcial intelligence; NLP = natural language processing.

Top priorities for win-zone companies

THE CRITICAL ENABLERSMedia companies intend to invest across a broad range of tech andhuman enablers
Nine out of ten media companies plan to invest in infrastructure and cloud enablement, AI and big data, and modernization of techarchitecture, allocating on average about 50% of their total digital enabler spending to these areas
PLANNED SHARE OF WALLET SPENDING ALLOCATED ACROSS ENABLER DIGITAL TOPICS IN THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS (%)1Tech

91
81

19

Infrastructure
and cloudenablement

Human91
81

78

72

72
59

53
16

Modernizationof techarchitecture

12

AI and big data

158
Cybersecurity

8
Modernization oftechnology
organization andoperating model

Share of respondents allocating any investment toward digital topic

New ways ofworking

8
New talent andleadershipmodelsAverage share of total investment

Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 41.
1For example, the leftmost pair of bars can be read as “91% of Media respondents plan to invest in Infrastructure and cloud enablement, allocating an average of 19% of their total digital enablers spending.”

76

Continuous
learning

Integrated
ecosystems

ROLE OF ESG IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

About 70% of media companies plan
to increase their investments in ESG(vs. about 80% of all companies) …

… with greater emphasis on Sand G dimensions

Share of respondents planning toincrease/decrease/maintain investment
toward ESG in coming years

Leading digital initiatives being prioritized
to support E, S, and G goals

25

Moderately
increase

57

Maintain as inprevious year(s)Decrease vs.
previous year(s)26

4Source: 2021 BCG Global Digital Transformation Survey, n = 22.

56

Environment

13· Digital supply chain optimization· Reduction in energy consumption inoﬃces and buildings~23

SocialSigniﬁcantly
increase

CROSS-INDUSTRY AVERAGE (%)· Ensuring protection of clients’,employees’, and/or customers’ data
· Improving diversity and inclusion withinfunctional organizational aspects~45· Critical risk incident management,
building cyber resilience· Real-time tracking/monitoring of risk

~41171Governance

MEDIA AVERAGE (%)

SHARE OF RESPONDENTS PRIORITIZING (%)

If you would like to discuss this topic, please contact one of the authors:

NEAL ZUCKERMANManaging Director & Senior Partner, New York
zuckerman.neal@bcg.com+1 212 446 2992

SCOTT STEMBERGERManaging Director & Senior Partner, Denver
stemberger.scott@bcg.com+1 720 800 9803