Hello fellow bloggers, surfers of the web and business enthusiasts. I’m not gonna lie, I’ma bit of nerd, a while back we had E3. (An article about Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference) For those of you that don’t know, it’s one of the biggest gaming expos in the world and it’s held once per year during June. With the technological advances on platforms such as YouTube and streaming services like Twitch, events such as these are able to be live-streamed seamlessly.
For the first time I watched the major conferences in full from home, live. Which begged the question, is there a need to go at all. Of course some people go for the experience, others go to these sorts of events to hear the news first.
How does live streaming affect attendance of events. I looked into this and found an article by Eddie Muckuk of Gamespot. He discussed the attendance results and found that e3 2017 saw 18,100 more people that 2016. So what we could conclude from this is that for now, live streaming could be a positive for events, it gets more people involved, it generates conversation its good for business.
My question is this, what happens when virtual reality and augmented reality become so good that it can evoke the same feelings we get when we are really at these events? What if they can allow us to see things we may not have been able to see before, like being on stage with our favourite performer on a talent show?
Would we still go to concerts to see our favourite bands and artists? (This is an interesting article about a 3 day festival being live streamed on Tidal) Will we still go to fashion shows to see the latest trends? Will we still go to expos and conferences to see the future releases of new tech?
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
TBBM signing off.
The Blog Myster 
Interesting read! Although advances in technology is developing so rapidly, there is a special element that I feel can’t be replicated in the comfort of your own home. Depending on the event, I would much rather go see Adele preform live in concert regardless of the crowd and waiting, purely because it creates atmosphere to the event and makes it special to remember. Camping music festivals for example Falls Music Festival that is on from 28th of December to the 1st of January wouldn’t be the same to stream at home unless the value you got out of it was purely the music.
I think being able to increase the quality of streaming might not necessarily mean that people won’t attend the live event, but enable more people to access them. Therefore, it is a win for everyone.
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Thanks for the comment 🙂 I agree, there will always be aspects that could not be captured with VR technology and streaming. Something about being there in real life is part of the experience. But your right, I would also say it depends on the event and also what people go there for.
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Hey man! great post as usual. You’d be surprise that some concerts already use live streaming (paid). However, i do think that being there live will always & definitely be better because it allows you to talk to people that have similar interests and also, the atmosphere is different.
However, i do think that free live streaming would increase attendance rates and therefore companies such as Twitch became a huge success and was sold to amazon for nearly $1 billion
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Yeah its so interesting, Ive herd it has been done at some concerts. Yeah i agree, in terms of the social and experiencial aspect it is not something that can be easily recreated through live streams.
Yeah for sure, I think if it was a free service or even a small price, a lot more people would get involved. Concerts for example are so expensive and a lot of people are put off by that .
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Great article Blog Myster! Personally, live-streaming sports broadcasts is something I’ve grown to really appreciate. Particularly when the sports are being played in another country – and you wouldn’t be able to watch it any other way. It definitely puts me off travelling to a venue – why spend money when I can watch it in the comfort of my own home for free?
Having said that, I feel as though music performances could not be watched online. Live music can’t be replicated on a screen – it needs to be seen and heard in person.
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Thats true, unless you have an amazing sound system which many don’t it could never sound the same. But live stream is definitely a convenience as you said for overseas events or even events that are just too late or far from your house:) Thanks for the comment
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Hi!
This is a really interesting topic! I personally think that to a certain extend, virtual and augmented reality will win over a lot of consumers but not all. I know there are people out there who would be still interested in attending such events for the experience and the excuse to get out and see the world. I wouldn’t want to rely on technology to artificially make experiences for me 🙂
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I agree, I think there will always be a segment of consumers who prefer to really get out there and experience things first hand rather than from behind a screen regardless of how real and immersive technology gets. 🙂
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I feel like businesses have the ability to generate allot more revenue through AR and VR. Especially since they can basically force advertise through these platforms since the customer is guaranteed to view it. Allot of the advertising which is done in these conferences aren’t very effective as customers have the ability to simply walk away.
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I have never really thought about that, that is a really good point, VR and AR technology is definitely going to have the ability to generate a lot of revenue as customers will essentially be unable to avoid it unless they complete remove the device which is more of an inconvenience to them than actually viewing the ad.
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Ultimately the experience of physically being at an event will always be superior to watching a video however the rise of VR and AR is slowly blurring that line between actually reality and a manufactured one. I think if the technology can further appeal to all the senses (would be interesting if touch, smell and taste could ever be incorporated) only then could a fully immersive experience be achieved. I could see this technology becoming more efficiently utilised for E3 conferences, especially in immersing viewers into the actual trailers of upcoming games.
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Thanks for the comment, they will definitely need to be able to replicate the other senses before we can truly be completely immersed in the digital world. I think that sort of technology is pretty far off. If devices could actually be connected to a brains to simulate what happens when we feel, smell and taste then VR could possibly compete with real events.
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It both has its advantages and disadvantages. I think with VR or AR you have a much better view of everything and you can be much closer to the stage, which is very beneficial. However, I also think it’s kind of lonely, you can’t really feel the atmosphere or talk to other people that are at the event, because you are watching it alone at home. So I think they will both continue to co-exist.
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It is a down side of virtual reality, the human and social element is some what removed, possibly if they were able to Incorporate a social aspect into VR events such as seeing other peoples virtual avatars and being able to voice chat directly with them. Even then it is not exactly the same and it will be hard for VR or AR technology to replicate that aspect.
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That’s an interesting read. I’m not sure, but I doubt that VR or AR will ever be able to replicate the exact experience you get from attending live. Like, for now, you can’t actually socialize or experience the atmosphere, the crowd, etc. from VR/AR. Though I feel it can be good for those who only want to listen or watch their favorite singer perform at the best view, without the need to experience anything else for example. There are people who just want to stay comfortable at home, yet able to catch a glimpse of their favorite artists.
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