COVID-19: New content formats crop up amidst lockdown

As content consumption levels rise, creators, platforms and brands brainstorm on ways to make the most of it via collaboration.

An Instagram Live concert online in exchange for playlists, a webinar that helps you understand the little things about keeping audiences hooked or a chef that gives you quick recipes to conjure up food out of leftovers at home — are all content format possibilities that have prominently cropped up amidst the ongoing lockdown in the country.

Step two to new content formats are looking for opportunities to monetize. Here, platforms and brands play a major role. BookMyShow has come up with a property called Live from HQ — where a creator has been scheduled to perform live on Facebook and Instagram every day. The platform is facilitating and supporting via registrations and promotions.

“Live from HQ has been curated and produced with the help of our partners Big Bad Wolf Entertainment and while it is the first phase in a new entertainment experience that we have put together for customers, we are working towards more such initiatives," Albert Almeida, COO – Live Entertainment, BookMyShow tells us.

New formats and opportunities are cropping up. Roshan Abbas, MD, Geometry Encompass gives us an overview from behind-the-screens. "When they try new formats, people will have to get comfortable with technology. When you are going live, it's not just about a broadcast, you have got to answer comments and bring people into your conversations. Sometimes you will have to edit a video at home, which not all artists may know how to. I think this will be a whole new era of collaboration that is going to begin," he says.

However, could it lead to saturation? Abbas relates the situation to the time people began using YouTube. "When people started making YouTube videos, everyone started doing it. However, there was a certain quality that moved ahead and people found it engaging. I think there will be a lot of experiments and there will be a big flood before things start to calm down. The entire artist community needs to come together and see and learn."

Experimenting with the new online formats zone, Kommune, a performance arts collective, has launched #HomeIsWhereTheArtIs.

He further tells us about monetisation models that are likely to work. One of them is where people will end up paying per view, which will take time for you will first have to build a paying audience. Patreon is one success story where people can say, hey, I will release a single if 5000 people pay me a dollar each. It could be even a freemium model where the artist could play free and live for 15 minutes after which people can buy a ticket to get into a virtual backdoor that takes you another, exclusive area.

Also Read: Indian music artists curate IG Live music festival

Barter deals can do wonders right now. When it comes to platforms like youTube, Facebook, Instagram, Zoom and TikTok, they will definitely support and promote such concepts and events because that's where the audience is. On the brand end, innovative opportunities will have to be found where plug-ins can happen in the middle of a Live.

He gives us an example: What if a brand says, hey, I know you can't go out to eat right now. However, what if I can offer you a virtual butter chicken at a much lower cost, which you can eat next month? Pay me today but get the benefit tomorrow.

In fact, Dineout has come up with such a plan to support restaurants with vouchers that people can buy right now and use in the next six months.

The industry has been talking about virtual events for a long time. However, things were slow-moving. now it is a need of the hour. The question is: How do you bring in the emotion of a live event on social media? This, when you have well-produced videos of the same artist available online. What is the extra factor that will help bring people in?

"Whoever cracks the two-way format that can engage audiences at home is going to win," Abbas tells us, adding, "A person can say, hey, you have ingredients at home? Come I will teach you how to cook. Insurance brands can talk about the importance of investment against a health crisis. A tech brand can help people learn technology or even support them with devices. Someone can work on the content that parents can consume with kids. Brands can easily come on board but only the innovator/ creator will win. It's the innovation battle."