There are a bunch of magicians saying that when things open back up again online shows will be dead. Are they right? No cliffhanger here…
THEY ARE WRONG
Magicians were the most successful growing solo variety entertainment category during covid lockdown. They found innovative ways to engage and dazzle at-home fans. Many had their best financial year ever in 2020 due to the hunger of audiences and the popular access telecommuting provided.
Now, as people can start to go to live shows more, is it the end of online entertainment like magic shows? Heck no! Online entertainment didn’t start with someone eating a bat and it’s not going to end now, but this is definitely a time of pruning. Entertainers who wish to do Zoom shows or other video interactive live entertainment (VILE) can’t phone it in. We’re leaving the era of starting a soup kitchen for starving audiences and entering an era where VILE must come from a high end pastry chef. There are way more soup kitchens than pastry chefs and they’re way easier to keep busy.
Twitch, Youtube, Netflix, and the video game industry are all doing tons of real time interactive stuff online, so no, it is not dying.
As we’re making more VILE we need to add more empathy, more user experience expertise, and really exploit the medium for everything it has to offer. More than ever, audiences want unique and bespoke experiences. Automation can help us provide that. Let’s go!