Preparing for the Hybridverse: Mixed Realities and Diversified Business

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As we know, the future of live entertainment is exclusive, multipurpose, and hybrid — a blend of the real and digital worlds. Less clear perhaps is what Media & Entertainment companies can do about it.

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“Only some streaming services providers are big enough to compete globally,” Deloitte concludes in its latest global look at the macro trends impacting M&E. It predicts more M&E activity from consolidation among the largest players while smaller providers may need to decide whether they want to compete as content aggregators, or instead become pure creators selling original content to the leading services.

Large studios also need to determine if they are suited to being content aggregators and streaming providers, or if they should focus on content development and licensing.

Certainly, reliance on a single line of business could become “increasingly risky,” the analysts say, with one strategy being to expand portfolios across entertainment categories to access younger audiences with new social media and gaming offerings.

“By the end of this year, top streaming providers might look more like digital platform companies, with premium SVOD and advertising-based video on-demand (AVOD) capabilities, user-generated content, gaming properties, and social integration.

“This evolving business model will likely test the willingness of shareholders to underwrite expansion, so pressures on profitability may become even more significant.”

The need to diversify lines of revenue holds true in the live events space too — notably physical venues like sports arenas. Here, Deloitte recommends opening up to experiences (such as meet-and-greets), live perks (like giveaways), or digital experiences (supplemental AR/VR capabilities).

“Interactive mobile experiences, such as AR/VR experiences, gaming opportunities, or deals and promotions, could be accessed exclusively by in-person attendees — before, during, and after the event — to supplement the experience." 

Indeed, those companies and venues that can “master the art of integration” stand to benefit the most because of their ability to cater to the broadest population of consumers.

“Experiences that embrace a hybrid approach, integrating in-person experiences with options like remote viewing, live streaming, and virtual co-presence, can appeal to both those who can’t wait to leave home, and those who’d prefer to stay within their own four walls.”

“Experiences that embrace a hybrid approach, integrating in-person experiences with options like remote viewing, live streaming, and virtual co-presence, can appeal to both those who can’t wait to leave home, and those who’d prefer to stay within their own four walls."

A revamping of business model also means considering how pricing tiers, paid content, and loyalty programs can help companies reach larger audiences and retain them longer.

In this regard, a key trend highlighted in the report is that of “shoppable media” — described as an interactive buying experience sitting at the intersection of content and commerce.

Digital commerce spaces such as mobile apps and websites are prime real estate for shoppable content; one click, in-app purchases, for example.

“Video streamers who enter this realm might be forced to make significant investments in infrastructure and technology that enables a seamless and integrated shoppable media ecosystem on their existing platforms. It may require rethinking integration across content, buying supply chains, and payment systems.

“And with the rise in popularity of AVOD services, shoppable media could be integrated into advertising models and interactive ad formats to bolster engagement and sales. This tactic could be especially important for retaining audiences that might otherwise wander off to social media or gaming,” Deloitte suggest.

“More broadly, shoppable media may shift the commerce ecosystem to favor smaller, more nimble creators, rather than more established brands. M&E companies that are willing to adapt and reinvent may be first in line.”

Nonfungible tokens play a strong role here in blending content with commerce and the virtual with the real.

“NFTs’ ability to bridge the physical and digital worlds is why they’re increasingly seen as part of large-scale emerging trends like Web 3.0 and the metaverse,” Deloitte continues. “In 2022, NFTs could evolve from a novelty into a utility. As social media becomes increasingly shoppable, NFTs could prove to be the key element in bringing scarcity and exclusivity to the internet.”

More content creators will likely experiment with NFTs to sell directly to fans while innovating on the kinds of additional value they can attach to the asset. Music labels and rights holders could advance efforts to understand how NFTs, and the blockchains that support them, may impact their business models. Gaming companies will likely continue experimenting with NFT virtual goods while eyeing a future of blockchain-based “play-to-earn” games.

Deloitte pushes back on the all-consuming drive to “the metaverse” as a “seeming eventuality that could take some time to fully realize.”

The consultancy thinks “money and hype will animate ‘the metaverse’ [through 2022], summoning the potential future of a 3D digital ‘place’ where people meet and interact through digital representations of themselves.” But Deloitte also believes that since the term is so encompassing and potentially transformational it will likely continue to suffer from generalization and speculation.

“For that reason, companies and investors should be cautious and disciplined in evaluating near-term metaverse opportunities.”

Trends like shoppable media, virtual meetings, social camera filters, motion capture, AR for clothing and furniture shopping, spatial computing, immersive learning, and an array of brand and enterprise experiments in AR and VR could all converge toward a metaverse.

“However, to become reality, they would require significant adoption, standardization, and interoperability, while establishing greater trust and safety.”