Elevating fan engagement in traditional business models around entertainment has slowly eroded due to audience fragmentation, and oversaturation of content. As such, stakeholders of both industries have adopted a set of innovative engagement solutions to better connect with fans and win the audience’s waning attention span.
Despite the reduced cost of content distribution due to improvements in technology; sports federations, clubs, and entertainment studios have found it harder to fully win their audience’s attention span. For this reason, many brands have rapidly adopted new ways of engaging with fans at a deeper level.
This blog post aims to demystify the impact of AI, AR, Deep tech, and Mobile phones in elevating fan engagement. Furthermore, we will discuss wowTalkies as an essential tool for enhancing fan engagement in the world of film, particularly across Bollywood cinema.
The History of Elevating Fan Engagement
Traditionally, live concerts and match days defined a large part of the entertainment and sports industry. In Cinema, large production houses and theatre companies had the monopoly of gatekeeping the creation and distribution of watching experiences. For sports, big leagues and their broadcast partners also maintained a monopoly in the production and distribution of content experiences.
For almost 30 years, fans have had to pay for subscriptions through a public service broadcaster like the BBC. However, the advent of Pay-TV channels inspired a new genre of niche-specific channels like ESPN.
In essence, fans could now make regular monthly payments for value-added services such as match highlights, local language commentary, and pre-and-post television shows, specialized news bulletins (sports, Hollywood, or Bollywood bulletins) among others. This was from the 80s onwards until the turn of the 21st century.
Fast forward to the 21st century, two technological waves changed the face of entertainment, brand activation and fan engagement.
- 2010 – 2015: Proliferation and mass adoption of smartphones
- 2015 – 2020: Growing innovation and maturity around next-generation technologies such as Blockchain, AI/ML, Computer Vision, and Augmented Reality.
Modern Trends in Elevating Fan Engagement
Figures from the Future Markets Insights website indicate how the advent of artificial intelligence, machine learning, the blockchain, and augmented and virtual reality has led to a 15% CAGR for the fan engagement industry. According to the same study, entertainment, and sports stakeholders are globalizing their engagement levels by recognizing fans’ loyalty. As a result, a new set of tools is redefining how such brands connect with their fans.
Forecasts reveal that the fan engagement industry will chart a 17.9% CAGR in the next 10 years. Several technologies and factors will merge to drive this growth; to name a few:
- The convergence of Web2 and Web3 Solutions
- Deep Tech Experiences (Next-Generation/Emergent Technology
Web2 Vs Web3 in Elevating Fan Engagement
| Web2 | Web3 | |
| Centralized Gatekeeping | Centralized gatekeeping is prevalent, leading to issues like censorship and data exploitation. | Decentralized approach, minimizing gatekeeping and offering more control to users over their data. Users can choose to monetize their data by consent. |
| Celebrities’ Relationship with Audience | Celebrities often rely on large corporations, limiting their ability to establish a direct relationship with their audience. | Web3 enables celebrities to have a direct and more personal relationship with their audience, reducing dependence on intermediaries. |
| Entertainment Distribution | Over-reliance on film agents and distribution companies in the entertainment industry. | Web3 aims to decentralize entertainment distribution, reducing reliance on centralized intermediaries in the film, music, and sports industries. |
| User-centric Platforms | Web2 platforms are becoming less user-centric, with users needing multiple sign-ups on different websites. | Web3 platforms prioritize user-centric design, offering seamless logins to multiple websites using one wallet e.g. MetaMask, hence enhancing user convenience and security. |
| Data Privacy | Large social media corporations exploit personal user data for targeted advertising. | Web3 prioritizes keeping private data private, allowing users to have more control over their data and reducing the risk of data ending up on advertising networks’ servers. |
| Censorship Resistance | Centralized platforms can easily inhibit freedom of speech and restrict content. | Web3 promises censorship resistance, aiming to be inclusive, diverse, open, user-centric, autonomous, community-led, DAO-driven, and immersive. |
| Monetization of Data | Users’ data is often aggregated without their consent. | In Web3, users have the option to monetize their data by consent, providing them with more control and ownership over their personal information. |
| Infrastructure Ownership | Technology giants control the large social media market. | Web3 seeks to give control back to users, reducing the dominance of centralized entities and promoting a more decentralized and user-driven internet ethos. |
Web2 gave birth to social media, video streaming platforms, content aggregation tools, and so much more. Unfortunately, stakeholders did little to nothing for mitigating centralized gatekeeping, censorship, and data exploitation. This not only affected the entertainment experience for fans but also negatively affected celebrities relying on large corporations to solidify their community.
Essentially, these celebrities could not establish a direct relationship with their audience. For musicians, they had to be part of a recording label. For sports, it was connecting with their audiences only at events, during matches, or occasionally on pay TV. As for Cinema, over reliance on film agents and distribution companies when distributing their movies.
When the social media industry became big and the world shrank into a global village, entertainers and celebrities turned their attention to creating mobile content targeted at over 4.59 billion users. Unfortunately, a few technology giants won control of the large social media market by installing the necessary infrastructure for user-generated content, a ready audience of smartphone users, and hyperactive chat rooms. In exchange, the unsuspecting social media user idling around these networking sites became the product. It did not take long for users to notice that the large social media corporations were exploiting personal user data for targeted advertising.
Enter Web3, with a set of brand new internet ethos and innovative tools. First, with the promise to give control back to the user. Instead of aggregating user data without the permission of the audience, the user may choose to monetize their data by consent. Second, Web2 platforms had become less user-centric with platforms fiercely battling for diminishing audience attention. For example, users had to create multiple sign-ups on different websites, and the risk of compromised 2-factor authentication details. With Web3, one can log in to multiple websites using their MetaMask wallet. Web3 also wants to keep private data as private as possible. This move eventually eliminates the chances of personal data ending up on advertising networks’ data servers.
Another convenience of the transition from Web2 to Web3 is censorship resistance. Gatekeeping in today’s media can easily inhibit the present freedom of speech. Social media platforms can also restrict one’s content or even block them. Web3 promises to be inclusive, diverse, open, user-centric, autonomous, community-led, DAO-driven, and immersive.
Deep Tech Experiences: Convergence of AI, AR, and the Metaverse when Elevating Fan Engagement
Autonomous, tokenized, and immersive experiences in fan engagement will rely on the power of Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, the Metaverse, and Decentralization.
There are several ways celebrities, creators, and entertainment brands will leverage emerging technology when enhancing fan engagement.
For example, the brands can utilize data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to curate a personalized experience when elevating fan engagement. For this to be possible, entertainment stakeholders ought to analyze their fans’ preferences, interests, and behaviors.
The immersive capabilities of the metaverse will also benefit the fan engagement industry. Some of the benefits of the metaverse include providing an immersive experience, monetizing interactions, creating digital assets, and gamifying interaction campaigns. Platforms can measure their interaction with fans by organizing challenges, competitions, and leaderboard contests.
Study the role of open protocols in shaping the future of the metaverse.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality also have the potential to transform fan experiences. Both technologies will enable brands to establish immersive connections with their fans through an interactive environment.
How Deep Tech is Elevating Fan Engagement Experiences
Artificial Intelligence
The Internet of Things (IoT), data streams from different platforms, sensors, trackers, and cameras, as well as big data technology, are reliable tools for gauging fan engagement. However, there is a huge reliance on intelligence to enable these systems to gauge fan engagement. Hence, the emergence of artificial intelligence across the entertainment industries. A good use case of AI in Web3 fan engagement is how a company in India, wowTalkies implements AI capabilities to support Faceswaps and lets users swap their faces with that of celebrities they love.
How wowTalkies is using AI when Elevating Fan Engagement
Fan engagement is often fragmented. This disconnection between brands and fans denies the fans an immersive experience. Sometimes, the cause is as simple as poor customer support and a lack of community-building efforts. Other times, the primary cause is the absence of comprehensive technology features that provide a frictionless and immersive experience. Without these features, harnessing the full potential of modern fan engagement is tough, and worse, impossible. wowTalkies has embarked on an ambitious journey to transform the way we look at fan engagement.
With the help of deep tech utilities such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the blockchain, and augmented and virtual reality, the engagement platform is designing a new way for moviegoers to experience cinema.
wowTalkies is not only interested in giving movie fans an immersive experience, but the platform is also investing resources and new tools for empowering studio artists and communities. The magic here is for artists and celebrities to connect directly with their fanbase, create new entertainment markets, promote content, and reward the most loyal fans.
The Power Augmented Reality (AR) in Elevating Fan Engagement
The merging of AI and AR presents a world-class opportunity for fans to take after their favorite celebrity. wowTalkies has already implemented an AR feature where fans can dress up like their favorite movie stars. Instead of only watching a movie, the platforms want you to live them. Through Non-fungible tokens and digital ownership, wowTalkies goes the extra mile to ensure you own these fan experiences.
Leveraging the synergies of AI, AR, and NFTs, wowTalkies allows you to actively participate in the cinematic universe you hold dear. Through the dynamic capabilities of AI and AR, you can seamlessly insert yourself into iconic movie scenes, experiencing the sensation of sharing the screen with your favorite actors. Whether envisioning yourself as the hero making a daring rescue or embodying the protagonist in a poignant moment, the potential is boundless.
The Metaverse
Although in its early stages, brands are still exploring the full potential of the metaverse. However, we still cannot underestimate the potential of the metaverse in iterating immersive fan experiences. There are four elements to picture here: digital assets, digital currencies, a tokenized immersive experience, and a digital marketplace. These four are valuable elements that guarantee exciting fan engagement for brands.
For instance, brands can connect with their audience through a live digital event on the metaverse. As such, the brands can reward their superfans with collectibles (digital assets); the fans can spend their digital currencies on the metaverse by purchasing staff on an inbuilt digital market. Additionally, the fans can showcase their NFT rewards on their profiles as a way of showing their commitment to cinema or sports celebrities.
Mobile-Led Experiences in Elevating Fan Experiences
Smartphone usage has grown to become a ubiquitous component of our daily lives. Their benefits encompass communication to entertainment, this includes streaming music, movies, complete series movies, live sports events and so much more. Despite someone attending a match day or cinema event, they are somewhat going to use their phone at the event. As such, this reveals how smartphones have become an important aspect of content consumption.
One of the applications redefining the face of smartphone-based fan experiences is wowTalkies. The wowTalkies mobile app stands at the forefront of redefining mobile-based fan experiences through a groundbreaking integration with a self-custodial EVM-based wallet. This innovative approach ensures that all user activities within the app are securely recorded on the blockchain, guaranteeing not only individual privacy but also fostering a transparent and trustworthy community environment.
The utilization of blockchain technology goes beyond just privacy; it catalyzes the creation of unique derivatives within the wowTalkies ecosystem. This includes the development of movie NFTs and the monetization of fan art, adding an extra layer of exclusivity and value to user interactions. The integration of blockchain not only enhances the user experience but also positions wowTalkies as a pioneer in leveraging decentralized technologies for entertainment platforms.
Moreover, the app introduces a dynamic points system, allowing users to earn points by engaging in various activities on the platform. These points can later be redeemed into $wowT tokens, forming a versatile and fungible currency within the wowTalkies ecosystem. The $wowT tokens, in turn, empower users to trade NFTs or gain exclusive access to red-carpet events organized by production houses, elevating fan engagement to unprecedented heights.
In essence, wowTalkies is not merely a mobile app; it is a gateway to a revolutionized fan experience. By seamlessly integrating blockchain technology, the app not only ensures the security and privacy of user interactions but also pioneers the development of novel and rewarding experiences, setting a new standard for mobile-based fan engagement in the ever-evolving landscape of entertainment.
To provide enhanced Web3, deep tech, and mobile-led immersive experiences in fan engagement, brands should aim to achieve the following:
- Foster a direct relationship between celebrities and their fans
- Identify audience segments, and estimate their size across different demographics encapsulating devices, interests, behaviors, geography, and language.
- Figure out how on what platforms and at what time fans want to engage with their favorite celebrities.
- Re-define the content monetization model in a way that rewards the entire chain, including the celebrity, the fans, and the publishers.
Sports and cinema enjoy one of the largest industries in the world when it comes to corporate sponsorships, merchandising, ticketing, and FANDOM. A use case targeting both industries and one with the right tools to achieve each of the above actionable tips can be considered top-notch.
wowTalkies is attempting to address some of the problems with both new and traditional models when elevating fan engagement. The platform has adopted various innovative tools across Web3, computer vision, and deep tech to help foster genuine connections between brands and their fans.
These tools have not only helped the company better understand different audience segments but have also solidified the commitment of celebrities toward their most devoted fans. wowTalkies is also charting a path forward using blockchain and tokenization. Essentially, tokenization will help certify digital ownership, in a way that fans can collect and own digital experiences of their favorite television shows and sporting events.
Conclusion of Elevating Fan Engagement with wowTalkies
The amalgamation of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Deep Tech, and Mobile-led innovations has ushered in a new era of unparalleled fan experiences.
This synergy has transcended traditional boundaries, providing entertainment fans with immersive and personalized interactions in the realms of entertainment.
As AI continues to refine recommendation algorithms, AR creates lifelike environments, Deep Tech unlocks novel possibilities, and Mobile-led initiatives ensure accessibility, the landscape of fan engagement has again in history, redefined its role. The combination of these technologies has not only elevated the viewing experience but has also empowered users to actively participate in and shape their favorite narratives.
The journey into the future promises even more exciting innovations, blurring the lines between the virtual and the real, and further enriching the connection between fans and the content they love.
The era of AI, AR, Deep Tech, and Mobile-led fan experiences is a testament to the boundless creativity and transformative potential of technology in shaping the way we engage with entertainment.
