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PixitMedia Survey Reveals Cloud-First Shift in Media Archiving

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  Published in Media and Entertainment on Saturday, December 20th 2025 at 15:19 GMT by Forbes

PixitMedia Survey Reveals the New Landscape of Media & Entertainment Archiving

In a detailed survey released this week, media‑technology firm PixitMedia has mapped the evolving habits of content owners as they digitise, store, and preserve the ever‑growing trove of audio‑visual material that powers the global entertainment economy. Drawing on responses from over 300 industry professionals across film, television, music, gaming, and user‑generated‑content platforms, the study offers a snapshot of where the industry sits today—and where it’s heading in the next five years.

The Survey, Conducted by PixitMedia
PixitMedia, a leader in media asset management and content lifecycle services, launched the survey in late October to understand how companies are confronting the twin challenges of “data deluge” and “rights fragmentation.” The questionnaire probed topics ranging from storage strategy and metadata quality to content‑reuse policies and the role of emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and cloud‑native workflows. The results are now available on PixitMedia’s website, along with a free white‑paper summarising the key take‑aways.

Key Findings

1. Digital Storage is Now the Default
   84 % of respondents indicated that the majority of their archival holdings are stored in the cloud, a dramatic rise from 52 % in 2022. Private‑cloud and hybrid‑storage architectures are still popular for highly sensitive or high‑value assets, but the move to public cloud providers—particularly Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform—has accelerated as firms seek elasticity and cost‑efficiency.

2. Metadata Quality Gaps Persist
   Despite cloud migration, 62 % of participants flagged metadata quality as a “significant” or “major” issue. Poorly tagged assets slow discovery and increase the risk of missed revenue opportunities. Survey respondents called for industry‑wide metadata standards beyond the currently fragmented set of ISO, MPEG‑7, and proprietary schemas.

3. AI‑Driven Cataloguing is on the Rise
   48 % of respondents are experimenting with AI tools that automatically recognise faces, objects, and even dialogue, generating searchable tags in near real‑time. “We’re at the cusp of a paradigm shift,” says Maya Patel, Chief Data Officer at a leading streaming studio. “AI can drastically reduce the manual labour required to index and retrieve content.”

4. Rights Management Complexity Drives Innovation
   The survey highlighted that 71 % of respondents still rely on manual or semi‑automated rights‑management systems. These systems struggle to reconcile disparate licensing terms across geographic territories and distribution channels. A growing number of firms are turning to blockchain‑based smart contracts as a potential solution for transparent, immutable rights tracking.

5. Preservation and Longevity Concerns
   Preservation emerged as a top priority for 55 % of respondents. The risk of data loss from format obsolescence, media degradation, or vendor lock‑in continues to loom large. Many firms are now allocating budgets for “digital preservation” that include format migration strategies, redundant storage, and periodic integrity checks.

Industry Implications

• Revenue‑Recovery Opportunities
  With an average of 30 % of archived content currently dormant, the study estimates that a comprehensive, AI‑enhanced catalogue could unlock an additional $2 billion in licensing revenue globally over the next five years. Streaming platforms can tap into older footage for new series, documentaries, or “best‑of‑the‑archive” compilations, while advertisers can repurpose vintage content for nostalgic campaigns.

• Collaboration Across Verticals
  The survey identified that 63 % of participants are willing to collaborate on shared metadata and standards initiatives. Organizations like the Media Preservation Society, the International Federation of Film Archives, and industry consortia are already hosting hackathons to standardise tags and build open‑source AI models for content recognition.

• Cloud Storage and Cost Management
  While cloud adoption is ubiquitous, cost‑management remains a hurdle. 42 % of respondents noted that storage costs have risen by 15–20 % year‑on‑year. The survey suggests that a combination of tiered storage (cold, archival, and active), lifecycle policies, and AI‑driven deletion protocols can help control expenses.

Expert Commentary

The Forbes piece quotes industry veterans who frame the findings as a warning sign and a call to action. “Archivists used to be silent guardians,” says Alex Chen, a veteran archivist with a 25‑year tenure at a major network. “Now they’re front‑line technologists fighting for their legacy to survive in an AI‑driven future.” Meanwhile, the survey’s co‑author, Tom Coughlin, stresses that “metadata is the new backbone of the digital economy. It is not enough to store data; we must also make it findable, usable, and shareable.”

Looking Ahead

PixitMedia’s report outlines a roadmap that blends technology with policy: 1. Adopt an industry‑wide metadata schema that balances comprehensiveness with flexibility.
2. Invest in AI for automated tag generation and context understanding.
3. Explore blockchain‑enabled licensing to streamline rights management.
4. Implement robust digital preservation strategies that include format migration and redundancy.
5. Foster cross‑industry collaborations to share best practices and tooling.

The survey’s final page recommends that firms conduct an internal audit of their archival ecosystem, measure metadata quality, and benchmark against the industry averages presented. The article also invites readers to join a webinar hosted by PixitMedia next month, where a panel of archivists, technologists, and legal experts will discuss how to turn archival challenges into competitive advantage.

Conclusion

PixitMedia’s 2025 survey underscores a pivotal moment for the media and entertainment sector: the convergence of massive data volumes, cloud‑native infrastructure, and AI‑driven discovery tools. The path forward demands a concerted effort to standardise metadata, automate cataloguing, and protect the rights and longevity of content. As the industry embraces these changes, the archived libraries of yesterday may well become the gold mines of tomorrow’s storytelling and monetisation.