Broadcast journalists lose 75% of time to technical busywork, study finds

The high volume of manual technical labor in broadcast newsrooms prevents local stations from capitalizing on their most valuable asset: localized expertise. By losing three-quarters of their time to asset retrieval and workflow friction, broadcasters cannot produce the sheer output required for social and FAST channel growth. To survive, the industry must pivot toward software-orchestrated production that automates distribution handoffs. This shift is critical for local broadcasters to effectively pivot to digital-first models before their linear audience erosion becomes irreversible. Watch for increased adoption of multi-format content engines that enable a single story to be packaged simultaneously for vertical social, streaming, and linear feeds.

The transition to automated newsroom workflows is gaining pace as media organizations move from experimental AI to structural integration. Per Reuters Institute, April 2026, roughly 97% of newsroom leaders now view back-end automation as a strategic priority to bridge the gap between early adopters and legacy operations. This trend is mirrored by the Associated Press, which has increasingly positioned AI as a distribution and efficiency layer, using it to automate routine data-driven tasks like earnings reports and sports summaries while freeing journalists for high-impact investigative work. Additionally, per Informa, November 2024, the Media Asset Management (MAM) market remains highly fragmented, with specialized vendors in production asset management (PAM) and localization struggling with customer overlap. However, the market is projected to reach $2.3 billion by 2028 as competition among streamers drives demand for cloud-native, AI-enabled solutions that facilitate remote collaboration. Meanwhile, Nielsen data from August 2025 highlights the urgency of this transition, recording a 69% year-over-year increase in viewers accessing local stations via OTT and digital-only platforms. Large-scale deployments, such as Gray Media’s consolidation of 1,300 digital touchpoints onto a single cloud-native platform in early 2026, suggest that major broadcasters are now prioritizing interoperable systems to solve the fragmentation issues highlighted in the Caretta-Quickplay report.