Widest gap
Media & Entertainment
67
Media & Entertainment has the widest Change-Response Gap on the Index this month.
THE HYDER INDEX · MAY 2026
58
Narrow Gapbaseline edition
Industries are changing 1.4x faster than companies are responding.
Companies are keeping up with about 70% of the change around them.
The Hyder Index measures the Change-Response Gap: how fast industries are changing versus how fast companies are responding. 50 means they are even. Higher means the gap is wider. How we measure it →
Baseline edition. Published May 6, 2026.
Updated the first Tuesday of every month. Next edition: November 3.
Narrowest gap
Hospitality & Travel
43
Hospitality & Travel is closest to keeping pace with change.
Keeping pace
2 industries
Financial Services & FinTech, Hospitality & Travel
What changed this month
May is the baseline edition of the Hyder Index, so there are no monthly moves yet. The Index opens at 58, in the Narrow Gap zone. Eight industries sit in the Significant Gap zone. Five are in the Narrow Gap zone. Two are keeping pace, and none is in the Critical Gap zone.
Media & Entertainment has the widest Change-Response Gap, at 67, as AI search summaries pull readers away from publishers. Technology & AI has the fastest change of any industry, with a Change score of 78. Its companies are also responding faster than most, so it ranks third, at 65. Hospitality & Travel and Financial Services & FinTech are keeping pace.
Which industries are furthest behind?
Each industry gets a score from 0 to 100. 50 means companies are keeping pace with the change around them. Higher means change is winning.
0-50 Keeping Pace 51-59 Narrow Gap 60-69 Significant Gap 70-100 Critical Gap
Media & Entertainment
67
Significant Gap
Media & Entertainment has the widest gap in the Index, at 67. AI summaries in search results are cutting the clicks publishers depend on, and audiences are moving to creators and short video. Most publishers have not yet built for where their audience went. The companies that follow readers to those new places will shape the next era of media.
Change
67
Response
32
Keeping up
50%
Delta
Baseline
Healthcare & MedTech
66
Significant Gap
Healthcare & MedTech scores 66, the second-widest gap in the Index. Investment, regulatory clearances and patient demand for AI tools are all rising. Most hospital systems are still running pilots instead of full deployments. The response has not caught up with the demand.
Change
65
Response
33
Keeping up
50%
Delta
Baseline
Technology & AI
65
Significant Gap
Technology & AI scores 65, in the Significant Gap zone. Its Change score of 78 is the highest of any industry, driven by business AI adoption, heavy AI funding and new AI agents. Companies are responding faster than in most industries. Many still add AI talent to old structures instead of redesigning how work gets done.
Change
78
Response
47
Keeping up
60%
Delta
Baseline
Legal & Professional Services
64
Significant Gap
Legal & Professional Services scores 64, in the Significant Gap zone. Regulators are pushing firms toward AI, and in-house legal teams are adopting it faster than the outside firms they hire. The billable hour is holding many firms back. Firms that rethink how they price their work are best placed to close the gap.
Change
56
Response
27
Keeping up
50%
Delta
Baseline
Education & EdTech
64
Significant Gap
Education & EdTech scores 64, in the Significant Gap zone. Its Response score of 21 is the lowest of any industry. Students have already adopted AI, but most schools are still writing policy and running pilots. Schools that build courses around AI will attract the students that slower schools lose.
Change
49
Response
21
Keeping up
45%
Delta
Baseline
HR & Future of Work
62
Significant Gap
HR & Future of Work scores 62, in the Significant Gap zone. HR software makers are shipping AI tools, and AI now runs first-round interviews at many large companies. Employers' own HR teams are adopting those tools slowly. Companies that build for the new model of work will have an edge in hiring.
Change
63
Response
38
Keeping up
60%
Delta
Baseline
Real Estate & Construction
62
Significant Gap
Real Estate & Construction scores 62, in the Significant Gap zone. The industry is short more than 500,000 construction workers, according to Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade group. Most builders and property owners still spend on equipment rather than software. The next building cycle favors companies that adopt AI design and modular methods now.
Change
45
Response
22
Keeping up
50%
Delta
Baseline
Energy & Utilities
60
Significant Gap
Energy & Utilities scores 60, at the lower edge of the Significant Gap zone. Clean energy investment reached $1.8 trillion worldwide, according to BloombergNEF, an energy research firm. Policy incentives and rising data center demand add pressure. Utilities are responding, but most of the action is at the largest companies.
Change
63
Response
44
Keeping up
70%
Delta
Baseline
Direct Sales & Franchising
59
Narrow Gap
Direct Sales & Franchising scores 59, in the Narrow Gap zone. Franchise output is projected to top $920 billion this year, according to the International Franchise Association, an industry group. The main hurdle is coordination, because AI tools must reach thousands of independent operators. Systems that make adoption easy for those operators will build a lasting edge.
Change
48
Response
30
Keeping up
65%
Delta
Baseline
Insurance
58
Narrow Gap
Insurance scores 58, in the Narrow Gap zone. Policyholders want faster, AI-driven service, but most carriers use AI to cut costs rather than to build new products. The first insurer to deliver what customers already want could reset expectations across the industry.
Change
57
Response
40
Keeping up
70%
Delta
Baseline
Manufacturing & Industrial
55
Narrow Gap
Manufacturing & Industrial scores 55, in the Narrow Gap zone. More than $200 billion in new US factory construction has been announced in recent years, backed by the strongest industrial policy in decades. A deep skills gap is the main constraint. AI and robotics are well suited to fill it.
Change
52
Response
41
Keeping up
80%
Delta
Baseline
Transportation & Logistics
53
Narrow Gap
Transportation & Logistics scores 53, in the Narrow Gap zone. Electric fleets, driverless trucks and AI route planning are all advancing at the same time. Most companies are adopting them step by step. The companies that combine all three will lead the next infrastructure cycle.
Change
44
Response
38
Keeping up
85%
Delta
Baseline
Retail & CPG
51
Narrow Gap
Retail & CPG scores 51, just inside the Narrow Gap zone. Social commerce is projected to reach $80 billion in US sales this year, according to eMarketer, a research firm. Leaders such as Walmart, the largest US retailer, and Amazon, the online retailer, are moving fast. Most mid-size retailers are still at the planning stage.
Change
51
Response
48
Keeping up
95%
Delta
Baseline
Financial Services & FinTech
46
Keeping Pace
Financial Services & FinTech scores 46, in the Keeping Pace zone. Its Response score of 58 is the highest of any industry, led by the largest banks. Most banks still use AI mainly for compliance and fraud rather than for customers. The next step is using AI to win and serve customers.
Change
50
Response
58
Keeping up
100%
Delta
Baseline
Hospitality & Travel
43
Keeping Pace
Hospitality & Travel has the lowest score in the Index, at 43, and is one of two industries keeping pace. The pandemic forced the industry to rebuild how it operates, and that speed has lasted. It shows the gap can close, and that closing it does not require a crisis.
Change
33
Response
46
Keeping up
100%
Delta
Baseline
May in two stories
Media & Entertainment has the widest gap
67Significant Gap
Media & Entertainment starts the Hyder Index with the widest Change-Response Gap, at 67. Its Change score is 67. Its Response score is 32, one of the five lowest in the Index. The main force is search. Google, the largest search engine, now puts AI summaries at the top of its results. Studies by Pew Research, a nonpartisan research group, and Seer Interactive, a search marketing firm, found those summaries cut clicks to publishers by 46% to 61%.
Few publishers have responded at the same speed. The New York Times, a national newspaper, and Axios, a news site, are the clear exceptions, with AI tools and video projects. Axios says it has expanded its local news service to 41 cities. Elsewhere, only 44% of publishers told the Reuters Institute, a journalism research center, that their AI efforts looked promising. Many are still reacting to traffic losses months after those losses became measurable.
Two industries are keeping pace
43Keeping Pace
Two of the 15 industries start in the Keeping Pace zone, where response matches or beats change. Hospitality & Travel has the lowest score in the Index, at 43. Its Change score is 33, the lowest of any industry. Its Response score is 46. Hotels and airlines already use AI for pricing and revenue management. The pandemic forced the industry to rebuild how it operates, and that habit of quick change has lasted.
Financial Services & FinTech is the other industry keeping pace, at 46. Its Response score of 58 is the highest of any industry. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, two of the largest US banks, give specific AI deployment figures on their earnings calls. Smaller banks trail. Regional and community banks put under 5% of their tech budgets into AI, according to McKinsey, a consulting firm.
What moved the numbers this month
Six observable signals of change from the Baseline data window, one per signal, across the economy.
Customers vote before they speak. Shifts in behavior, loyalty, and wallet share show up in the data long before they show up in feedback.
Where skilled people flow, and where they flee, predicts where value is moving next.
Follow the capital. Investment, funding, and spending patterns reveal where smart money believes the future is.
Regulation, pricing, and policy quietly re-weight what gets rewarded. When the incentives move, behavior follows.
Slow-moving shifts in values and expectations suddenly release. What society tolerates, celebrates, and demands is a leading indicator.
New technology and new entrants rewire how an industry connects. One switch flips and every downstream assumption changes.
Per the Hyder Index, the May 2026 reading is 58, and industries are changing 1.4x faster than companies are responding.
The two independent reviewers' ratings differed by 0.15 points on average on the 0 to 5 scale.
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