The media industry has never been more data-driven, or more data-challenged, than it is today. As formats multiply and workflows stretch across continents, creative teams are wrestling with an explosion of content and a growing maze of storage systems.
In this year’s State of Media Archiving Survey, more than 330 media leaders shared how they’re managing complexities and where they’re investing next. The results reveal a sector in transition. Unified platforms, hybrid workflows, and AI are reshaping how content is stored, discovered, and delivered.
The State of Media Archiving Survey is an annual study designed to capture how creative organizations adapt to shifting production realities, rising data volumes, and new operational pressures. Respondents included broadcasters, studios, OTT platforms, sports organizations, publishers, houses of worship, and enterprise content teams. Their insights form a detailed picture of how archiving strategies are evolving and which technologies will matter most in the next three years.
This blog marks the launch of the 2025 State of Media Archiving Report. The full report includes nine key segments, expanded data cuts, and deeper analysis of the trends shaping media operations. The highlights are below.
1. The shift toward unification
Over the past decade, media organizations have assembled impressive but fragmented infrastructures. Each new format or production partner added another layer: more servers, more cloud buckets, more tools. The model is cracking under its own weight.
85% of leaders surveyed said they plan to migrate to a unified media archiving platform within the next 24 months.
The reason is simple. Fragmentation slows everything down. Teams waste hours searching for files, reconciling versions, or waiting for transfers. Unified platforms replace that friction with orchestration. Assets are findable, workflows are connected, and the creative process moves faster.
2. Budgets are rising to match ambition
Despite cost pressure across the media landscape, three-quarters of companies plan to increase their technology budgets in 2026. Among the largest companies, nearly one in three will raise investment by 10-14%.
This renewed spending isn’t about storage for storage’s sake. It’s about building systems that can handle tomorrow’s content realities: bigger files, richer metadata, and AI-driven automation. Leaders are investing in tools that deliver measurable efficiency and a faster path from concept to audience.
3. Hybrid dominates, on-premises rebounds
Cloud isn’t going anywhere, but it isn’t everything. Hybrid architectures remain the preferred model for 42% of organizations, combining elasticity with local performance.
At the same time, on-prem deployments are regaining importance, rising from 25-30% as companies seek tighter data control, predictable costs, and compliance with growing security mandates. The future isn’t cloud versus on-prem. It’s both, unified under one orchestration layer.
4. Content libraries are exploding
Every segment of the industry is seeing exponential growth in data. Almost one third of large media companies expect their libraries to exceed five petabytes within a year– nearly double today’s figure.
This expansion is driven by short-form content, multi-language localization, and live or immersive production formats. As content libraries swell, media archiving is no longer a support function. It’s the engine that protects revenue, enables discovery, and sustains long-term profitability.
5. AI moves from hype to everyday utility
Artificial intelligence is moving from experimentation to execution. Nearly half of respondents identified operational productivity as the top benefit of AI, followed by automation and cost efficiency.
AI is already enriching metadata, identifying duplicates, and flagging anomalies across archives. It’s quietly transforming how teams search, retrieve, and repurpose assets. In short, AI is making the archive work smarter, not harder.
The big picture
Across broadcasting, OTT, studios, sports, publishing, and enterprise video, the message is consistent. The industry is modernizing at pace. Budgets are rising, hybrid models are stabilizing, and unification is the next frontier.
But challenges remain. Nearly half of respondents say they still struggle with automation gaps, scattered metadata, and limited remote collaboration. Solving these issues will define which organizations stay agile in a rapidly evolving market.
Driving the future of media archiving
At Pixitmedia, we believe in unification as a creative enabler. Our intelligent media archiving platform brings together high-performance storage, metadata enrichment, and AI-driven orchestration to turn complexity into clarity.
In the modern media economy, speed to market defines success. When your data moves seamlessly, your creativity does too.
Download the full 2025 State of Media Archiving Report to explore all nine segments and see how leaders are reshaping the future of media operations.
