Top 10 Predictions For Media & Entertainment In 2020
PREDICTION #9 – Real, not virtual, live “experiences” also increasingly find their way into multi-platform media strategies, driven by a growing counter-movement to digital’s frequently heads down isolation. Live experiences, and their more lasting “soul” (not to mention selfie-worthy moments) deepen brand engagement and monetization. They also drive ever grander “offline” experiments and M&A.
Think of Madison Square Garden’s audacious Sphere project here, a $1.2 billion project that aims to reinvent the venue experience. The first MSG Sphere is rising up from the desert floor in Las Vegas right now to blow minds. At smaller scale, but equal mind-blowing impact, Woolf & The Wondershow’s Cages music experience in downtown Los Angeles’s Arts District demonstrates how technology can expand and enhance the possibilities without overpowering the underlying story. It is a “must.”
PREDICTION #10 – “Fake news” (including AI-driven “deepfakes”) overrun 2020’s U.S. elections and cause unprecedented societal disruption. The White House hangs its hat on disinformation campaigns actively promoted by major media and social media players, and claims victory no matter what the actual outcome.
The country is divided and threatened like never before in generations. Hacking headlines add to an increasing sense of mass insecurity. But in the face of daunting forces, optimism survives and social activism rises up. 2020’s fear transitions to 2021’s brave new redemptive possibilities.