Imagine watching a sleek 007-esque spy thriller and noticing a sharp jacket or an elegant bar where our hero orders a cocktail. You think, “I’d wear that” or “I want to go there.” Now imagine you could buy the jacket or book that table – while still watching the film.
A world where every frame, every sound bite, every moment of content isn’t just watched but experienced – and monetised. A world where AI doesn’t just catalogue content, but actively transforms it into real-time opportunities. That world isn’t five years away. It’s already here.
The challenge: monetisation in the attention economy
Despite all the content being created, monetisation is getting harder. Videos are shorter. User attention is fragmented. Advertisers struggle to find meaningful placements. And media companies risk leaving value on the table. We all know that attention is the new currency. But securing and monetising that attention is harder than ever. Content lifespans are shrinking. The half-life of a trending video today is measured in hours, not weeks. Users also demand hyper-personalised, instantly accessible content, and advertisers want brand-safe, highly relevant placements but are facing increasing privacy restrictions.
The result? A monetisation squeeze. And yet, media companies sit on an untapped goldmine – their content archives, live streams and user interactions contain vast amounts of unstructured data that could be turned into revenue if we had the right tools. That’s where AI comes in.
The AI revolution: from content to commerce
AI has progressed exponentially in its ability to understand and categorise media. Today, multi-modal AI can tag video, audio and text in real time – identifying objects, scenes and even sentiment.
AI can contextually categorise content, making advertising more precise and subscriptions more engaging. Agentic AI – which is a key focus for us at Endava – takes this a step further. Instead of just tagging, it automates entire monetisation workflows. What does this look like in practice? Let’s take integrated commerce as an example.
Imagine that same spy thriller. The main character steps out of a car, adjusts their coat and walks through a rooftop bar. You pause – not just to admire the scene, but because an AI agent has already tagged the coat, the sunglasses, even the watch. On your viewing screen, shoppable hotspots appear. You don’t have to search – you just tap, browse, buy. This is Agentic AI and Smart broadcasting in action, turning passive watching into active commerce.
Here’s how this creates new revenue streams:
- Advertisers bid on these embedded product placements, just like they do for search keywords. A high-value tag – say, premium sunglasses – can be bid on by brands for top placement.
- AI prices ad placements dynamically based on factors like screen prominence and time-on-screen, seasonality, historical video engagement and so on.
- Viewers can pause the video and shop instantly with an integrated shopping cart and frictionless payment options.
This isn’t theoretical. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are experimenting with shoppable video, but with AI and a pinch of automation, any media company can build this capability.
Beyond commerce: AI-powered monetisation strategies
So why choose a custom solution when there are some off the shelf products? The answer: Control. Off-the-shelf AI tools often don’t fit the specific needs of media businesses and we have seen companies ending up with a mash of tools not integrating well. Also, generic AI tagging lacks industry-specific nuance, leading to inaccurate metadata that reduces monetisation potential.
A tailored approach allows you to build on what you already have – no need for a complete replatform. This solution works with your existing investments, using a single enriched data source to power multiple monetisation strategies and uncover internal efficiencies.
- 1. Smarter ad targeting
AI-driven tagging enables privacy-compliant ad targeting – placing ads based on content, not tracking users. A sports highlight reel featuring sneakers? AI dynamically inserts a premium sportswear brand ad without ever needing personal data.
- 2. AI-powered content sponsoring
AI makes media archives searchable and monetisable. Old sports footage, news clips and documentaries can be automatically indexed and licensed to advertisers, streaming platforms or NFT marketplaces.
- 3. Subscription and retention boost
Netflix’s AI tagging improves recommendations, increasing retention. With the right metadata, any streaming platform can enhance engagement, keep viewers longer and reduce churn.
- 4. Privacy and regulation
It is possible to automate content review processes, finding unsuitable content or defining key user targets.
How Endava can help
At Endava, we focus on delivering real business value through AI. We’ve built multiple broadcasting media supply chains, giving us a deep understanding of how content flows from creation to consumption and advertisement. Our expertise spans:
- Custom AI models and agentic AI automation
Our Morpheus accelerator, developed since the early days of generative AI, is a multi-agent AI factory designed to automate complex content workflows, ensuring accurate tagging, compliance screening and metadata enrichment.
- Engineering excellence and AI expertise
We are a trusted AI partner across all major cloud platforms. As one of only seven global OpenAI partners and a long-standing Microsoft partner, we’ve been rigorously vetted for our AI expertise. With over 20 years of experience in agile software engineering, we don’t just implement AI proofs of concept – we operationalise and scale them through our tried and tested S-SDLC process and tools.
- Media and advertisement
With 20+ years of experience, we support media clients across broadcasting and advertising. We deliver product strategies, scalable architectures and user-centric experiences powered by data and AI. In broadcasting, this enables personalised content and market agility. In advertising, we drive first-party data strategies and omnichannel engagement, supported by tools for campaign management, real-time reporting and AI-based optimisation.
In summary
The media landscape is evolving rapidly. AI is not just a tool – it’s the engine driving the next era of media monetisation:
- Studios and broadcasters will unlock hidden value from their archives.
- Advertisers will reach audiences with greater precision and relevance – without compromising privacy.
- Audiences will engage with content in more interactive, frictionless ways.
The media companies that thrive won’t be those that create the most content – but those that monetise it best. The future of content value is AI-driven. And that future starts now.
Curious to learn more on how the media landscape can monetise content? Contact our experts to see how they can help your business flourish: Publishing and Information Services Software | Endava .