Media companies consolidate fragmented tech stacks to reduce costs and eliminate operational silos

Media organizations are moving away from fragmented vendor ecosystems toward centralized platforms as they seek to reduce hidden operational costs and eliminate departmental silos that slow content production and distribution workflows.

Traditional media operations often rely on multiple disconnected tools and systems that create inefficiencies through redundant software licensing, context-switching between platforms and coordination delays across departments. Industry executives report that these fragmented approaches generate substantial hidden costs that become apparent only when organizations implement consolidated systems.

“The hidden costs of fragmented media tech stacks add up quickly: Teams lose hours each day searching for assets across disconnected platforms, switching between editing, storage, project management, and review tools, and managing version conflicts that stall production,” said Kathleen Barrett, CEO of Backlight.

Fragmented systems create operational bottlenecks through constant context-switching between tools and coordination delays between teams and platforms. Industry executives describe these workflows as inefficient relay processes where teams lack visibility into other departments’ progress.

“In traditional media workflows, time is often lost to manual processes, disconnected tools, and constant context-switching between teams and platforms; like trying to run a relay race without knowing where the next runner is,” said Nav Khangura, VP of sales and business development at TMT Insights.

Centralized platforms eliminate silos and coordination delays

Media companies are implementing centralized platforms that connect disparate tools and workflows while maintaining a unified source of information. These systems use application programming interfaces and automation to link previously disconnected tools and processes.

“To consolidate fragmented processes across departments or vendor systems, organizations should begin with a centralized, accessible platform that enables unified viewing and management,” said Aaron Kroger, director of product marketing and communications at Dalet. “Building on that, integrations can connect disparate tools, workflows, and people while having a single source of truth ensures consistency and eliminates duplication.”

Organizations address coordination issues by implementing cloud-based architectures with unified interfaces that allow teams to manage multiple functions from a single platform. The centralized approach eliminates redundant data entry and reduces coordination requirements between departments.

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“Moving to a cloud-based architecture with a single, centralized interface allows teams to manage ingest, QC, approvals, and delivery all in one place,” Khangura said.

Centralized platforms enable organizations to consolidate data management and eliminate conflicting workflows between departments. This approach creates coherent strategies and faster response capabilities to market changes.

“Centralizing merchandising data into a single platform helps unify reporting and removes redundant or conflicting workflows across teams,” said Lucas Bertrand, founder and CEO of Looper Insights. “This eliminates silos between marketing and platform partners. The result is a more coherent strategy and faster response to market shifts.”

Quantifiable ROI through operational efficiency and revenue optimization

Organizations implementing centralized platforms report measurable improvements in operational efficiency and cost reduction.

For example, the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils reduced storage management costs by 34% while streamlining access to nearly 2 million assets after consolidating their media management systems. Orange Prestations TV tripled graphic output while managing over 730,000 assets following platform consolidation.

Companies moving to unified platforms document additional operational gains, with some reporting 50% reductions in content curation effort and 60% workflow efficiency improvements through elimination of duplicate systems and manual handoffs.

“ROI calculation for supply chain consolidation centers on three key areas: operational efficiency gains, revenue optimization, and risk mitigation,” said Ivan Verbesselt, chief strategy and marketing officer at Mediagenix. “When you eliminate duplicate systems, manual handoffs, and data reconciliation across fragmented platforms, labor costs drop significantly while velocity increases.”

Platform consolidation also addresses revenue optimization through improved content utilization. Organizations report 35% conversion improvements and increases in effective catalog size, enabling more content to generate revenue before license expiration.

“A single source of truth eliminates costly rights violations, missed licensing opportunities, and write-offs from content that never gets properly monetized,” Verbesselt said. “The ROI compounds because each improvement amplifies the others.”

Cost reduction through infrastructure and licensing optimization

Platform consolidation delivers return on investment through multiple cost reduction mechanisms, including eliminated redundant software licenses, faster asset discovery, and reduced labor hours spent on file transfers and coordination tasks.

“Consolidating your media ecosystem isn’t just operationally cleaner — it delivers measurable ROI through reduced software spend, faster asset discovery with AI-enhanced metadata, and fewer labor hours spent on file transfers,” Barrett said.

Moving to consolidated platforms enables organizations to eliminate perpetual software licenses and underutilized infrastructure across their supply chains. Cloud-based architectures provide consumption-based models that align costs with actual usage.

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“Moving to a cloud-based architecture provides the opportunity to move away from perpetual software licenses and underutilized infrastructure for the media processing elements of a supply chain,” said Geoff Stedman, CMO at SDVI.

Media processing tools, including video transcoding, audio processing and subtitle modifications, can operate on on-demand or consumption-based models through consolidated platforms, avoiding long-term licensing commitments while ensuring appropriate resource provisioning.

Consolidating fragmented tech stacks represents a systematic approach to reducing operational costs while improving workflow efficiency and interdepartmental coordination across media organizations.