Blog: IRl

It appears that investors are losing confidence in Disney as the transition from linear TV to streaming TV moves into its final chapter. Last week, Disney saw its stock price fall after announcing that it was doubling its capital expenditures investmentin its parks, experiences, and products segmentto$60 billion.

On June 30th, Netflix will launch its first ever pop-up restaurant, NETFLIX BITES ,at the Short Stories Hotel in Los Angeles. Featuring sampling menus from its celebrity chefs from Netflix original shows, such as Chef’s Table (surprisingly enough, Netflix’s longest running nonfiction series), Is It Cake?, and Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend, the restaurant promises to offer in real life (IRL) fandom experiences for the shows’ fans who are able to visit in person.

Podcasts are breaking out of isolated, digital consumption and into real-life experiences. At this year’s On Air Fest, the Pod Loft hosted a series of podcast activations for a variety of shows, including My Favorite Murder, where fans – known as Muderinos – gathered to see fan art and tributes to the show.

When P!nk released her Greatest Hits…So Far! album back in 2010, radio show presenters were quick to respond by discussing what they believed would become the death of her career. According to them, greatest hits albums were essentially the nail in the coffin for music artists; a struggling attempt to stay relevant, unlikely to escape the ‘grand finale’ effect of the project.

Hollywood is in flux right now, with producers such as Jason Blum taking to social media andexpressing their frustrations: “Gotta get out to those movie theatres folks. We don’t want to be streamed to death!” Agents representing film talent (both acting and production) are busy lobbying the leading direct-to-consumer (D2C) services to prioritise theatrical releases over straight-to-streaming releases for significant productions.

We are entering a new phase in the evolution of consumption. Traditionally, IRL dominated entertainment consumption. With the advent of the internet, smartphones and other technological innovations, companies and consumers created de-facto digital replicas of IRL.

Following the pandemic breakout in March 2020, MIDiA predicted that Covid-19-induced games engagement growth was temporary and will face a correction as the world starts coming back to life. Indeed, with four quarters of data in hindsight, the Covid Bounce effect for games is in full swing.