In the last decade or so, we have completely changed the way we look at entertainment. With iconic things like Blockbuster becoming a distant memory, new giants stepped forward in the form of Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and many others. All these new platforms aimed to change the way we looked at entertainment and the word digital became attached to the entire industry permanently. Today we are enjoying all kinds of content on our mobile devices and the way our habits are changing is also quite interesting.
While the digital entertainment giants may be playing a big role in steering the path this industry takes, they are still not the most powerful force. At the end of the day, it is still the consumers and their devices that decide how digital entertainment is created and presented to us. With hundreds of millions of users consuming digital content every day, we have figured out some major trends influencing the industry. Here are a few things that we think are playing a key role in determining the direction that the digital industry takes in the present and the future.
1.
Smaller screens are becoming the main source of entertainment. They are posing a huge threat to the cinema industry. With most content consumers being millennials, the preferred entertainment devices are laptops, smartphones, and tablets. They want to watch things on the go and those are the devices that they can take anywhere they want. It is quickly becoming apparent that these will eventually be the primary focus of the digital entertainment industry. There is one technology that could disrupt the way digital content is consumed and that is augmented reality. However, the technology is still far from mature, we will be using these three devices primarily for the next few years at least.
2.
Billing options are evolving drastically, and we are moving away from the traditional style that we are used to with cable tv service providers. Two types of payments are currently being used, one being on-demand content and the other being subscriptions. While it is not that widespread right now, prepaid content is also an option that some service providers offer. This is especially useful for people who do not pay for content but occasionally watch something special. With everything being on the internet, payment solutions are also much more streamlined.
3.
New on-demand content niches will also begin to appear soon enough as more and more niches appear with a sufficiently large demand for each. The content in this type of entertainment will be highly specialized and focus on the specific requirements of the audience that may already be knowledgeable about the content. Generic content may not be a popular option in the future. Companies like Netflix are already using a version of that by creating shows based on consumer statistics. This will only increase in the future as more and more creators join the race in the coming years.
4.
User experience is a key focus area for content creators and service providers alike. With the internet being the only source of consuming content globally on these platforms, the companies are improving the way their web applications and platforms look and perform. Things like emotional web design, low latency connectivity, and multi-system support are being worked on extensively. Some service providers are also investing in artificial intelligence to improve the suggestions consumers get on each platform. Analyzing data to find out what the consumer liked and ignored can help them understand the way a person thinks about each type of content.
5.
Big data is becoming a key factor for business success everywhere and it is picking up traction in the digital entertainment niche as well. The idea is to understand the behavior of their consumers and predict it to some level to improve service quality. All this is to achieve one simple goal and that is making sure the consumers watch as much content as possible. Additionally, this is not limited to video content either. Several audio entertainment companies, including Spotify also use the same technique to analyze behavior towards content and use it to provide better suggestions.
6.
Short films and small duration content in general will become increasingly popular as the attention span of the current young generation is constantly decreasing. This will have a huge impact on the places where we consume content as well. Places where publicly available content is unheard of may start to provide entertainment solutions like buses and trains. The content itself will be short but comprehensive and fully self-contained.
7.
Collision of industries will become a reality soon enough in the overall digital entertainment space. The reliance between each part of the service is constantly increasing as things like content, technology, branding, data, etc., all come together in one way or another at some point. This collision will eventually lead to partnerships, mergers, and even takeovers where necessary to optimize the service and make it all happen under a single roof. Companies providing entertainment may become conglomerates with several wings, each working seamlessly with the rest to bring new content to life and present it to consumers in a smooth and pleasing manner.
8.
Exclusive and original content will quickly become popular and be presented as a key selling point on each service provider’s portfolio. Original content has already proven its worth on platforms like Netflix and we are seeing hundreds of millions of dollars being invested every year in creating new shows. This gives the platform a big competitive advantage if they create or own exclusive content. Disney Plus has the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in its hands, HBO Max had the famous show Game of Thrones, and Netflix had multiple globally popular original shows as well like House of Cards, Witcher, and many more.
9.
Multiple subscriptions will eventually become a common thing for consumers as they will want to watch exclusive content on multiple platforms. To maximize their customer base, each company will drop subscription prices to attract more customers and that will allow people to afford multiple subscriptions at once. This will further increase the competition and force companies to create more exclusive content which is a huge positive for the industry.
10.
Local cultural content is also a big focus for the generation Z and research shows a huge demand for such content in recent years. Companies are already creating exclusive plans that provide on-demand content related to a certain area and accessible for people who pay for that content. The expectation is to provide such content as an add-on to the original subscription of the platform that members of a certain community can subscribe to in order to watch that exclusive content.
Conclusion
There are some incredibly exciting developments happening in the digital entertainment industry. It will not be long before it takes over traditional entertainment venues and cinemas and becomes the primary and largest entertainment source in the world. If you find this exciting and would like to share your thoughts, hop on to our Portal at e-B2B.org and publish a guest post with a dofollow link right away!
