93% of media & entertainment organizations report surprise cloud storage fees; half say egress costs prevent switching to providers better suited for media workflows.

Backblaze, Inc. (Nasdaq: BLZE), the cloud storage innovator providing a modern alternative to traditional cloud providers, today announced it will be exhibiting at the NAB Show New York from October 22–23, 2025, booth 623, where they will showcase new research in partnership with Dimensional Research that reveals how hidden cloud storage costs are reshaping video workflows across the media and entertainment (M&E) industry.

The study, based on a survey of 101 M&E leaders managing over 250TB of cloud infrastructure, found that rising egress fees and unpredictable billing models are forcing companies to make trade-offs that directly impact content availability, archives, and production strategies.

Cloud bills undermine content workflows

According to the research, 93% of media organizations report being hit with unexpected cloud storage fees, with nearly half incurring them monthly or more often. To manage costs, companies are making difficult compromises:

• 61% reduce dataset sizes to control storage bills, limiting access to valuable content archives.
• 49% shorten retention policies, risking the loss of media that could be repurposed or redistributed.
• 41% curtail usage of existing libraries, reducing monetization opportunities.
• 29% cut staff allocation or headcount tied to content workflows.

“The data shows what media professionals know from experience: production and distribution workflows are being throttled not by technology, but by cloud economics,” said Gleb Budman, CEO at Backblaze. “Innovation is a function of how freely data can move. If every hop from archive to AI tool, or from mezzanines to CDNs adds egress risk, you narrow your options. Our job is to remove that friction.”

Locked in by costs, ready for change

The survey also highlights how restrictive cloud pricing models are keeping M&E companies tied to providers that may no longer fit their needs:

• 50% cite egress and data movement costs as the biggest barrier to switching providers.
• 34% are contract-locked, while 42% cite technical complexity as another major barrier.
• Despite these hurdles, 64% are at least slightly likely to consider switching providers in the next year—a signal that demand for transparent, best-of-breed options is rising.

M&E leaders also highlighted the attributes they value most in a storage provider: compliance (50%), ease of use (42%), customer support (37%), and high throughput (31%)—all critical to video workflows that span creation, post-production, and global distribution.

Industry philosophy is also shifting: 67% of M&E organizations prefer best-of-breed technology approaches over one-stop-shop solutions, underscoring growing frustration with restrictive ecosystems.

To learn more about how Backblaze can help, meet us at the NAB Show in New York at booth 623. Book a meeting here: https://info.backblaze.com/nab-ny-2025.

About the survey

The Backblaze–Dimensional Research 2025 Cloud Storage Survey was conducted from May 24 to June 5, 2025, with a total of 403 respondents responsible for over 250TB of cloud infrastructure. Respondents provided insight into cloud storage challenges, vendor preferences, and the impact of AI-driven data growth on infrastructure strategies.

About Backblaze

Backblaze is the cloud storage innovator delivering a modern alternative to traditional cloud providers. We offer high-performance, secure cloud object storage that customers use to develop applications, manage media, secure backups, build AI workflows, protect from ransomware, and more. Backblaze helps businesses break free from the walled gardens that traditional providers lock customers into, enabling them to use their data in open cloud workflows with the providers they prefer at a fraction of the cost. Headquartered in San Mateo, CA, Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE) was founded in 2007 and serves over 500,000 customers in 175 countries around the world. For more information, please go to www.backblaze.com.

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According to the research, 93% of media organizations report being hit with unexpected cloud storage fees, with nearly half incurring them monthly or more often.