Ever since companies began establishing themselves things such as labels, logos, names, slogans, packaging, delivery, presentation, and quality were things that everyone would focus on.

Having a good product, and the above was all you needed. Then distribution and market share/penetration became the other aspect: The globalization. Then the study of consumers. Target audiences, demographics, segmentation, strategies. Diversification, publicity, ad campaigns, marketing campaigns, the return on investments and many other things in the equation of what makes a company be successful.

But 2018, almost all of the marketing, advertising, sales, promotions, ads, communications is done through video designed with Call to Actions and incentives to click, share, promote, buy, get it now, and sense of urgency. How do you get a competitive advantage in placing yourself ahead of competitors and delivering your message in a unique way? Entertainment

Entertainment: What’s the big deal?

Entertainment has become such an important and key element in everything that companies such as At&t acquired DirecTV and now Time Warner. They stopped being just a telecommunications provider to become an entertainment company. Why? Because we live in a world where people want to be connected, entertained, engaged. We are social beings and as such we want to always be consuming content. When 3G came active with cellphones it was big because we could walk and chew gum. You could be talking on your phone and browsing the web. Then, we had a fourth generation/4G/LTE. This one was the big one. It came with the revolutionary incentive that, there was entertainment involved. Buffering went down, speeds were amazingly fast, and the growth was exponential. The fact that we could watch an HD film in a mobile device being streamed and no lagging issues were something that no one back in 2004 would’ve considered. Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming platforms were key elements in this.

Now every influencer, company, political party, a non-profit organization, singers, fashionistas, bloggers, anyone is doing videos on Facebook Live, Instagram Live, Snapchat, Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Trending because they want to share their message, bran, and unique value proposition by entertaining their audience.

They engage with their fans, followers, audience by doing videos, using hashtags, using MEMEs, doing contests, asking questions and later answering them on the same platform.

What’s in it for me?

The main problem with entertainment right now is that instead of being diverse and made up of many little, medium and big size studios, the little and medium-sized are being bought by the big and the gigantic ones. 

We live in a world where now Star Wars, the X-Men and Dragon Ball (in the U.S.) are from Disney. The problem with this is that now the company is focusing on merchandise and sales rather than story and hurt the biggest character development there was: Luke Skywalker. Although I liked The Last Jedi, mainly because of the same reasons everyone hated it, I wanted a last hoorah from Luke. I wanted him to go out as the greatest and biggest hero George Lucas made him be. 

Not with studios becoming more of a central idea and agenda, if like everything is a one size fits all. This is insane! We are already experiencing this with the CW Sitcoms where you see the same dialogue and happenings over and over again, except for the amazing cross-overs thanks to Stephen Amell’s ingenuity. 

Another issue is that now that they realize everyone streams and likes Netflix, they all want to compete with Netflix and have started creating their own versions of streaming platforms creating the exact same issue that everyone had with Cable and Satellite TV providers. I want to watch X show which is in Y platform, as well as Z show which is in the B platform. Y platform costs $14.99/month while B costs $9.99. Then I want Netflix, which will raise the price to $15.99/month and Hulu will be $5.99 (dropped since Netflix announced the raises.) Then I have Amazon prime which is $119/year and let’s add Spotify because we need music, $9.99/year.

$14.99 + $9.99 + $15.99 + $5.99 + $9.99 = $56.95 on Streaming Services/month. But don’t forget; you need internet service! Add another $60/month. 

In the end, there is nothing but a pain for the consumers, for the content creators, musicians, bands, singers, composers. Unless you are a big name that you get to ask for a rate and you are paid for it immediately, you simply have to play by the rules of these companies. 

The consumers cancel on and off the subscriptions or simply put them on their credit card and forget about the charge. They believe that every stream is a support for the artist or simply that it will help the show or platform to continue creating more content but this is becoming more complex and complicated with every passing year. 

Every company now wants to be in the entertainment business one way or another. At&t has done it. Amazon from being a Book Seller online has done it. Netflix from mailing DVDs has become a leading powerhouse. 

Now we have new entertainment companies with new promises of transparency and ownership for the creators and the consumers utilizing Blockchain technology. 

What does the future hold? A promise. Creators and consumers are tired of playing by the rules of the corporations and faceless companies with the mindsets of the 20th Century. A new dawn for entertainment, an evolution for technology is coming. 

Entrepreneurship, Blockchain, Entertainment and Human Behavior are joining forces to kickstart the heart of the new ear. 

Until Next Time, see you all in the blockchain. 

Mikel