This year has forced the music and entertainment industries to quickly adapt to the sudden loss of live in-person events for both fan engagement and revenue generation. To pivot, many companies have turned to live streaming as an indefinite venue to offer fans a virtual way to connect with their favourite bands and artists.
Although live streaming rose to popularity as a result of social distancing restrictions, there’s evidence that it won’t be going away even as those restrictions start to ease. Here are five reasons why we think that live streaming is here to stay (and how this can benefit your organization):
1) Achieving a Wider Reach
In-person events are limited to fans that are in the vicinity of the venue. With live streaming, fans can tune in from all over the world and watch the exact same event, at the exact same time. Shows that were once limited by venue capacity, can now open up to whoever feels an inclination to tune in, turning hundreds of fans into thousands. A popular K-Pop band BTS achieved a Guinness World Record for the most viewers for a music concert Livestream, bringing in 756,000 fans from over 100 countries, with their Big Bang Con: The Live concert. This is a testament to the reach that can be achieved when events embrace the digital space.
2) Fostering a Sense of Community
Over the past few months, Livestream events were able to bring people together to champion a cause, a common goal, or support their favourite artists. Building this sense of community among fans increases their likelihood of engaging with the artist or the cause through future tickets sales or donations. Live concerts like the #TogetheratHome series brought numerous artists together in support of the World Health Organization and frontline healthcare workers. It was viewed by over 20 million people, and raised $128 million. This is a great example of how live streaming events can bring together people from all over the country, or even the world, under a unified cause and love of the artists as well as their music.
3) Partnership Opportunities with Online Vendors
Just because in-person gatherings are limited, doesn’t mean that partnership opportunities are scarce. In August 2020, a popular music festival Outside Lands introduced its digital counterpart, Inside Lands. In previous years, Outside Lands was known for its inclusion of highly sought after food and drink options and small business vendors. In order to recreate the same festival experience, fans in the Bay Area were able to order Inside Lands combo meals from staple Outside Lands vendors through their preferred delivery site. By offering these options, Inside Lands was able to stay true to their brand and keep their fans happy.
4) Increasing Music Downloads and Streams
The upside to having fans watch live concerts from their computers is the ease of access to their music player of choice. This way, if they want to find the song they are currently listening to, they can do so instantaneously whether through a CTA or from an organic search. This could vastly improve music downloads as fans won’t have to wait until the concert is over and they’re back at home to attempt to recall their favourite songs from the set. The Travis Scott concert on Fortnite, held in April 2020, led to a 124% growth of the streams of his music on Pandora and similar spikes on other major music platforms. This goes to show that Livestreaming can effectively boost music streams and sales for artists.
5) Boosting Merch Sales
Merchandise is another great way to convert your Livestream views into tangible sales. By bringing stores online, fans can bypass the long lines and crowds that may prevent them from purchasing merch in person. Offering merch CTAs during a Livestream event also eliminates the capacity limitations on the amount of product at each venue. Peach Pit’s Live From Inside concert powered by Live Nation Canada and Tradable Bit’s FanXP platform, is a great example of how to optimize your Livestream concerts for merch sales. Peach Pit advertised their limited edition merch before the concert went live through social media as well as within the FanXP platform itself to ensure that their merch was top of mind for their audience. Over 50% of the audience that tuned in bought merch which is a testament to the power of a Livestream to drive additional revenue.
When used correctly, there’s a great opportunity and a number of use cases for live streaming even beyond the pandemic. Now is the best time to innovate, collaborate, and embrace the tools and technology available to help you execute an effective live stream experience for your fans.
Need to brainstorm some ideas together or want to learn more about how to reimagine your next Livestream experience? Check out our FanXP platform or contact us to get started!