ITV’s Sanjeevan Bala on Going Beyond AI Experiments to Unlock Enterprise Value

Sanjeevan Bala, Former Group Chief Data & AI Officer at ITV and FTSE Non Executive Director's media value chain to content production and monetization. He reveals why starting with "last mile" business value led to better outcomes than following industry hype around creative AI. 

Sanjeevan also provides a practical framework for moving from experimentation to enterprise-wide adoption. His conversation with Ben covers everything from increasing ad yields through AI-powered contextual targeting to building decentralized data teams that "go native" in business units.

Topics discussed:

• How AI has evolved from basic machine learning to today's generative capabilities, and why media companies should look beyond the creative AI hype to find real value.
• Breaking down how AI impacts each stage of media value chains: from reducing production costs and optimizing marketing spend to increasing viewer engagement and maximizing ad revenue.
• Why starting with "last mile" business value and proof-of-value experiments leads to better outcomes than traditional POCs, helping organizations avoid the trap of "POC purgatory."
• Creating successful AI teams by deploying them directly into business units, focusing on business literacy over technical skills, and ensuring they go native within departments.
• Developing AI systems that analyze content, subtitles, and audio to identify optimal ad placement moments, leading to premium advertising products with superior brand recall metrics.
• Understanding how agentic AI will transform media operations by automating complex business processes while maintaining the flexibility that rule-based automation couldn't achieve.
• How boards oscillate between value destruction fears and growth opportunities, and why successful AI governance requires balancing risk management with innovation potential.
• Evaluating build vs buy decisions based on core competencies, considering whether to partner with PE-backed startups or wait for big tech acquisition cycles.
• Challenging the narrative around AI productivity gains, exploring why enterprise OPEX costs often increase despite efficiency improvements as teams move to higher-value work.
• Connecting AI ethics frameworks to company purpose and values, moving beyond theoretical principles to create practical, behavioral guidelines for responsible AI deployment.

Episode 16.