Entertainment, media and sport in 2025: key trends and challenges

Johan Rewilak, Assistant Professor, Department of Sport and Entertainment Management, University of South Carolina
Johan currently works at the Department of Sport Management at the University of South Carolina (the largest program in the United States by student numbers), having joined in January 2023. Prior to this position, Johan served as an Assistant Professor of sport economics at Aston Business School in Birmingham, U.K., and attained his PhD in Economics from the University of Leicester.
His research in sports economics and finance has led to numerous published articles in leading sport management journals as well as authoring several book chapters. His past research on financial sector fragility has led to invitations to disseminate his findings to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of South Africa.
Johan's work outside the academy has led to multiple advisory roles ranging from large sports franchises where he helped ascertain sponsorship value, to non-profits by calculating the social impact of sport on local communities.
It is also a pleasure to announce that Johan will be returning to the UK in July 2025 where he will join Loughborough University as an Associate Professor in Sport Economics.

Katie Butcher, Senior Manager, Strategy&
Senior Manager in the Operational Restructuring team where we drive rapid transformation and turnaround by reducing costs, improving cash and creating tech enabled and sustainable solutions.

Cross-sector experience including TMT, print media, electric vehicles, and Broadcast.

Session Chair: Adam Edelshain, Business Director, MediaSense
Adam is a Business Director at MediaSense, a global marketing and media advisory firm. Adam is focussed on bringing transparency to the media sector. This includes helping media owners measure and report their multi-platform audiences, and supporting both media owners and brands in measuring the carbon impact of advertising production, distribution and consumption. He also works with AdTech companies, helping them to demonstrate the value of their technologies.

Before Joining MediaSense, Adam was a Director at PwC where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 2010. At PwC Adam specialised in providing governance, risk management and process/controls support to clients across the media, entertainment and sports sectors. He was also a contributing editor to PwC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook.