FUTURE #4: CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE

THE NEW LANGUAGE OF DEVELOPMENT

We’re in a moment where data influences nearly every decision, but it’s still instinct that shapes the work that sticks. The future belongs to creative leaders who know how to move between the two.

AI and analytics aren’t the enemy. They’re tools, and like any tool, they’re only as useful as the hands that hold them. Netflix uses proprietary modeling to predict viewer completion before a show gets greenlit. Sora and other generative tools are shortening development timelines and giving creators early-stage scaffolding. But if you don’t know what you’re building, or who it’s for, you’re just optimizing noise. Judgment still matters. Instinct still wins.

When we reversioned content for MTV’s global markets, the work didn’t start at translation. It started at behavior. We looked at where audiences dropped off, what they shared, when they leaned in and what resonated culturally. In EMEA, tighter visual pacing worked. In Latin America, it was about longer scenes with stronger emotional cues. We reshaped content based on signal. But we also knew when not to follow the numbers. If the emotional arc didn’t match the metrics, we paused. We listened.

Too many teams worship dashboards. A completion rate without context is just a decimal. A viral spike might be a one-time trick. Quibi had a $1.75 billion budget, massive talent, and detailed research. It still failed to build cultural memory. When we built Behind the Screen for Twitch, we used watch-time to guide the flow, but the moments that stuck, the ones people talked about, weren’t the segments that performed best in the data. The stuff that lasts is rarely the stuff that spikes.

What’s taking shape now is a new fluency. A creative intelligence that understands A/B testing is not a verdict, it’s rehearsal. That watch-time is useful, but what audiences quote or share later matters more. That smart content strategy isn’t about guessing less, it’s about leaving room for what can’t be predicted.

We don’t need more metrics. We need more people who can read between them. AI in entertainment is expected to surpass $99 billion by 2030. That number is big. But the real opportunity isn’t in the tools. It’s in how they’re used. People still remember what made them feel something. That’s where the future gets built.

Next week: Earned Intimacy at Scale.