Euromonitor, the global research giant, recently published a report that looks a couple of decades into the future and predicts the shape that commerce will have taken by then. The whitepaper sketches a vision of how consumers will come to shop, work, and live 20 years down the road. The focus, however, is clearly on commerce, as the name suggests. Among other things, there are some illuminating insights that the paper provides as it looks into the future of entertainment in 2040.
There are numerous factors at play today that will come together to transform the entertainment landscape in the future; it will revolutionise entertainment consumption.
It predicts that the unprecedented connectivity and internet coverage will make entertainment consumption possible from afar. Music or sports fans, for example, will not even have to step foot into an arena or a stadium to live the experience. The widespread connectivity and futuristic technology will enable them to experience it from anywhere in the world.
Consumer values are rapidly shifting as they increasingly come to value experiences. This shift towards experience bodes well for the future of the entertainment industry. The challenge, however, is to get the consumers (fans) to keep coming back to the events through differentiated experiences every time.
Technology will play an unprecedented role in almost every aspect of the services provided in the entertainment sector of the future; from ticket buying to the actual experience. The report reveals that even today, 87% of consumers with internet facilities buy tickets online for entertainment activities.
The concept of the second screen has already firmly established itself with the advent of social media.
The fans present at an event with an internet-enabled device are constantly creating content on social media. Fans from all over the world that are connected through social media can partake in the experience that the ones in the venue are living. This has placed a lot of power into the hands of the fans. They are well informed today and have the power of social media to share their experiences across the globe.
The report reveals the rising trend where consumers are increasingly seeking unique experiences when it comes to how they consume entertainment. The expenditure on recreation, leisure, travel, and food services is expected to rise to 8 trillion dollars by the year 2030. The most demand for unique experience-driven entertainment comes from the advanced economies where the average consumer spends 16% of their total income on it compared to 10% in the emerging economies.
However, the larger trend shows that people all over are moving towards greater personalisation and unique experiences in entertainment and are moving away from mass experiences.
There are predictions of novel concepts such as virtual currencies that could be used across entertainment venues for entertainment services. The hyper-connectivity of the future will allow the currency to be linked to fan activity on social media, such as promoting fandom online. They will then be able to use that virtual currency to buy entertainment and leisure services.
