February 19, 2026
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2 mins

Asset management for growing Media & Entertainment businesses: 2026 challenges & solutions

With content budgets under scrutiny and production timelines accelerating in 2026, media teams can’t afford inefficiencies in how equipment and assets are managed.

Media and entertainment companies have a fairly simple reality: your gear is always moving — and it isn’t cheap.

Cameras, lenses, lighting rigs, audio kits, production laptops… and the one cable that somehow costs £120 and disappears every week.

Most growing production companies assume “enterprise asset management” is too heavy — and they’re right.

But spreadsheets and informal tracking fall apart the moment you’re running multiple crews, multiple shoots, and multiple productions at once.

In 2026, modern, all-in-one asset management software removes that friction entirely.

What Media Teams Are Actually Managing

1) Shared Equipment & Availability / Bookings

Examples:

  • cameras, lenses
  • lighting equipment
  • microphones, mixers
  • production kits

Traditionally: asset tracking tool
 (and often… Google Calendar, Whatsapp and prayers 🙏 )

2) IT Consumables & Stock

Examples:

  • cables (HDMI, SDI, XLR)
  • batteries
  • adapters
  • memory cards
  • small accessories

Traditionally: inventory & stock management

3) Vehicles

Examples:

  • production vans
  • transport vehicles
  • trailers

Traditionally: fleet management tool

4) Kits Management + Transport Tracking

This is the big one.

Media teams don’t just track single assets — they track:

  • kits
  • cases
  • grouped equipment
  • shipping between locations

The 2026 Challenges

Full Traceability (Without Slowing Down Crews)

Tracking must be fast, mobile-friendly, and real-time.

Knowing What’s Available

If you don’t know what’s booked, what’s out, and what’s in repair, you get double bookings or last-minute rental costs.

Small Items Cause Big Pain

Cables and accessories aren’t glamorous, but they can stop a shoot instantly.

The 2026 Solution: All-in-One Asset Management Software Built for Real Movement

In 2026, a platform like Bulbthings AI lets media teams unify:

  • asset tracking + availability
  • stock control for consumables
  • maintenance logs for expensive gear
  • vehicles and transport workflows
  • kit-level grouping and traceability

Everything lives in one place.

And Bulbthings AI can help with:

  • recognise assets’ picture and add them into the system with relevant information
  • import messy spreadsheets
  • take actions when asked in natural language (e.g “tell me what tool is available for this event/project and book these ones”, “log this repair issue for this equipment”)
  • take recurring actions (e.g. “send me a list of equipment I need to return, every morning at 09:00”)
  • get instant reports (e.g. “tell me what’s currently on job X”, “give me a breakdown by category of all outgoing consumables between the 1st of January and 5th of March 2026”)

In media, asset management shouldn’t slow down production. It should quietly prevent disasters.