New Tech in Media: The Hidden Gatekeepers Shaping What Audiences Watch

Even with an abundance of streaming subscriptions, cable channels, and broadcast options, audiences still face the same challenge: discovering what to watch. The issue isn't a lack of content — it's the interface.

While AI algorithms do help personalize recommendations based on individual viewing behavior, they do not operate in a vacuum. Commercial strategies—such as promotional partnerships, internal content priorities, or revenue incentives—also shape what is pushed forward.

What appears most prominently in a search result or home screen is not only what a viewer is most likely to enjoy, but often what platforms most want them to see.

A new study by Hub Research confirms a trend that has become increasingly apparent: the operating systems (OS) of connected TVs — including Roku, Samsung, Fire TV, and LG — play a powerful role in shaping viewing behavior. These systems determine which apps are featured, how search results are ranked, and which shows are promoted. In essence, they have become the gatekeepers of content discovery.

Like retail stores and supermarkets, which hold enormous power over what consumers can buy by deciding which products to stock, where to place them, and how prominently to display them, connected TV OS platforms now hold similar sway over content visibility, deciding what gets prime digital shelf space, and what gets buried behind layers of clicks.

At the same time, a second transformation is taking shape in traditional broadcasting. TV 3.0 (ATSC 3.0), the next-generation standard, introduces 4K video, IP-based delivery, and targeted ads to over-the-air channels—creating a new kind of broadcast experience that merges linear television with digital personalization.

As these two forces converge, the implications for media companies are clear: strategies must evolve to account not just for content creation, but for platform visibility and access.

Connected TV OS: What the gatekeepers of discovery control

• App visibility: which apps are prominently featured and which are hidden

• Search results: how and where content appears in platform-level search

• Ad delivery: what ads are shown, when, and through which inventory networks

These platforms operate as closed ecosystems with their own business incentives. Roku prioritizes proprietary channels, Amazon promotes Prime Video, Samsung highlights its FAST service. This creates a dynamic where strong content — regardless of quality or brand — can remain undiscovered if not optimized for the specific rules and priorities of each OS.

ATSC 3.0: A Big Revenue Opportunity for Broadcasters

TV 3.0 offers broadcasters a suite of new capabilities, including dynamic ad insertion, interactive content, and personalized overlays, all through IP-enabled delivery. This creates a pathway for legacy players to re-engage audiences with more relevant and measurable experiences.

However, adoption remains limited for now. The U.S., Canada, and South Korea are targeting an increasing local market, while Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil's TV Globo are pioneering the new technology. Without greater awareness or a clear consumer value proposition, the advantages of TV 3.0 may go underutilized.

What This Means for Media Strategy

This is more than a technical upgrade. It's the possibility of innovating a business model that is compromised by the increasing dominance of social video - especially as new generations develop new viewing habits away from TV sets. Media companies need to address not just where content is hosted, but how it is prioritized within each viewing environment.

Negotiating placement within TV OS menus and recommendations, leveraging metadata and AI to improve discoverability, and piloting early TV 3.0 formats that enable real-time engagement are key elements of a new strategy that may help media companies stay afloat, if they want to remain relevant for a few more decades.

If content cannot be easily found, it may not be consumed—regardless of its quality or relevance.

This is a pivotal moment for media strategy — one that demands presence not just in content, but in the pathways that lead to it.