Tag: entertainment industry

The Age of Interactive Entertainment

The entertainment industry has become increasingly interactive as people take more control of the media they consume. Since the emergence of reality television, entertainment has become less passive with viewers playing an active role in the experience. As shows become readily available on the Internet, viewers have more power and more choice. Execs in the entertainment world are still tackling how to keep up with the evolving media space. Although the issue of monetization is yet to be resolved, developing an interactive and engaging experience to keep viewers’ attention will be essential.

The explosion of reality television contributed to the deepening level of engagement that has become expected among viewers. Several reality shows, which are profitable for studios since they tend to be significantly cheaper to produce than scripted series, captivate audiences as they take average people and launch them to stardom. Shows like “Real World” and “Survivor” grabbed audience attention by selecting everyday people to be cast members and contestants. Furthermore, reality shows have evolved to include direct participation among the masses. For example, the phenomenally popular show, “American Idol,” encouraged involvement by allowing viewers to choose the winner through actively voting via phone or text message every week. Audience members were no longer mindless viewers but were asked to take part in the decision-making process during a specific time window every week.

Consumers are becoming accustomed to taking more control of the entertainment they choose to enjoy. TiVo offers greater flexibility as people choose what television shows they want to watch and when. Additionally, the Internet is revolutionizing the entertainment industry. People can watch their favorite shows at their own convenience while also becoming involved in conversations about what they saw. David Carr recently pointed out on The Media Equation that consumers are turning to the Internet and social networks to get a daily dose of entertainment, news and commentary. Carr notes that particularly with talk shows and reality series there’s no longer a need to watch a full episode because it’s easy to find highlights and must-see moments on Facebook and Twitter.

Social media allow deeper levels of engagement as consumers can comment on shows, share news instantly and even interact with their favorite celebrities. No more sending fan letters confessing love via snail mail—Twitter lets users engage in a personal “conversation” with favorite movie and TV stars, music artists and sports heroes while following their thoughts and random musings online. People are no longer passive viewers and in some cases, consumers are becoming producers, creating their own media on YouTube and sharing it across a vast network of blogs and social communities.

Entertainment is not dead, it’s just evolving. Ultimately, it has become increasingly important for the entertainment industry to invent more advanced and original ways to extend an entertainment experience across multiple channels, while allowing for greater user participation.

3D Imaging Technologies Generate Higher Margins for Entertainment Industry

Images courtesy of http://deminvest.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/nvidia.jpg

The growing consumption of digital content has propelled a new economic trend in the entertainment industry. The average Joe living in a developed economy will spend the majority of the day in front of the computer, television, or other digital display. Increase in accessibility and proliferation of digital media has created strong consumer demands for quality entertainment, which in turn, has skyrocketed production costs for all media content from games to movies. Large production costs put a pressure on profitability, but one major area of innovation that is generating better margins for the entertainment industry is 3D imaging.

This new wave of 3D imaging technology adds another dimension of value to future digital media because consumers are willing to pay more for an enhanced experience, yet the technology curbs production costs for manufacturers and publishers.

156 million people have smartphones, and 184 million laptops were shipped in 2008. Consumers’ digital media obsession now drives the innovative development of software and hardware that create increasingly immersive entertainment and digital media experiences.

The large amount of investment required to offer more engaging 2D entertainment experiences is putting profitability under pressure. The total production cost for Grand Theft Auto IV was $100,000,000 – currently the biggest budget spent on any video game. The majority of production costs for 2D games were allocated by manufactures and publishers for creating more sophisticated graphic interfaces and higher resolution content. However, 3D imaging works on relatively simple technologies and do not require as extensive of production budgets, provided that the display screen’s image refresh rate is high.

For example, NVIDIA, in partnership with Samsung, now offers the GeForce 3D vision system for gaming applications. The system requires a minimum of 120Hz and shutter glasses in order to reconstruct the illusion of real 3D images, which are created by playing two different images, each representing the two perspectives of the same object to each eye. Though normal 2D screens project frames six times slower than 3D films, the GeForce system plays the two-scene views, called “right eye” and left eye,” three times every 1/24 of a second. The result is 3D flicker-free images created by the eye’s natural persistence of vision.

These innovations in imaging technology create augmented realities that link images and real objects, and add the perception of interaction for viewers, and consumers are willing to pay more to experience this novel form of digital media. For instance, IMAX movies are priced five dollars above the average price of a standard 2D theater admission.

Companies like amBX UK Ltd, a technology licensing business, are creating elaborate, “sensory surround” entertainment with modest technologies that enable content creators to add real world effects using light, color, rumble and air flow, through licensed amBX devices. These innovative but relatively inexpensive additions to digital media revalues entertainment experiences and allows producers to maintain lower production cost while driving higher revenues.

Consumers are demanding increasingly immersive entertainment. What will the introduction of 3D imaging mean for gaming? Will these emerging technologies create new experiences so gamers can feel like they are walking through the battle fields of Modern Warfare 2? As companies such as amBX and NVIDIA continue to develop hardware that brings 3D gaming to the living room, the future for console gaming looks bright as long as publishers continue to put premium prices on the technologies. If this trend continues, the gaming industry will have no problem retaining its position as the highest grossing entertainment industry in the world.