A new report from cloud infrastructure and content delivery networks provider bunny.net suggests the media industry is seeing a disconnect between the pace of innovation and the operational realities of delivering video at scale.
The report said that while the industry is focused on scaling, monetisation and next-generation video delivery, it still faces the challenge of building infrastructure that can scale without increasing operational burden.
The Running Video in 2026 report surveyed more than 500 organisations where video is central to their offering across streaming, education, enterprise communications and creator platforms.
It found that 59 per cent of those surveyed are not using AI video features in production, despite its growing adoption in the industry. Of those who are using AI, 40 per cent said they’re using just one feature, such as transcription or translation.
According to the research, 14 per cent of respondents said they are employing the AV1 codec, while 38 per cent are considering it but have no immediate plans to implement it.
Other findings include:
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77 per cent of respondents use a managed video platform to avoid running encoding and delivery themselves
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41 per cent identified predictable cost as a key consideration
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Just 10 per cent cite cost as a challenge without also citing operational complexity
“The video delivery industry is often focused on new features and what’s next, but our research shows something different. More capability does not necessarily equate to more value. There’s clearly a demand from organisations for fewer moving parts and they’re carefully weighing up the benefits of adopting new technology against the operational complexity it could introduce,” said Dejan Grofelnik Pelzel, CEO at bunny.net. “The providers that succeed will be those that help organisations scale efficiently, control costs and innovate without making video delivery harder to manage.”
The full report is available to read here.
