Industry group, 5162
Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers
227,490 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $138,510 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 121 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 72%
- 17%
- 11%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 18% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 20%. Today's estimate: 26%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 83% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producers and Directors | 23,000 | 23% | 11 million | $99K |
| Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel | 10,150 | 43% | 9.1 million | $99K |
| Advertising Sales Agents | 6,880 | 54% | 7.7 million | $78K |
| News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists | 9,730 | 36% | 7.2 million | $80K |
| Software Developers | 24,090 | 14% | 6.8 million | $179K |
| Editors | 7,040 | 46% | 6.8 million | $86K |
| Customer Service Representatives | 5,030 | 64% | 6.7 million | $48K |
| Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys | 4,080 | 52% | 4.4 million | $47K |
| Broadcast Technicians | 7,070 | 26% | 3.8 million | $63K |
| General and Operations Managers | 6,750 | 23% | 3.2 million | $106K |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | 5,680 | 25% | 2.9 million | $246K |
| Office Clerks, General | 2,450 | 54% | 2.8 million | $47K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 105 smaller jobs (37,420 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 97% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance.Software Developers6.7 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Collect and analyze data on customer demographics, preferences, needs, and buying habits to identify potential markets and factors affecting product demand.Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists5.8 million hours90% of the task within reach
- Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.Software Developers4.7 million hours70% of the task within reach
- Develop or direct software system testing or validation procedures, programming, or documentation.Software Developers4.3 million hours79% of the task within reach
- Develop sales presentations or proposals to explain service specifications.Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel4.3 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Cut and edit film or tape to integrate component parts into desired sequences.Producers and Directors4 million hours96% of the task within reach
- Design, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcomes and consequences of design.Software Developers3.9 million hours38% of the task within reach
- Compose and edit scripts or provide screenwriters with story outlines from which scripts can be written.Producers and Directors3.8 million hours86% of the task within reach
- Determine system performance standards.Software Developers3.6 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system.Software Developers3.3 million hours99% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works