Young people prefer to be entertained in the metaverse and with video games instead of streaming platforms.
The new generations are becoming accustomed to virtual and social experiences as opposed to the movies and television of today.
The metaverse, video games, and social networks loom over the streaming sector as the significant obstacle to overcome to connect with the youngest, those destined to renew the platforms’ audiences.
This is one of the main conclusions of the Deloitte Insights report, which states that this trend will condition the development of digital entertainment in the coming years.
At the same time, it has confronted streaming platforms with a challenge more significant than that of acquisition and retention in an environment of exacerbated competition: the renewal of their customer base.
The subsistence of any medium depends on the renewal of its audiences. And for years, this process has occurred quite naturally, as children succeeded their parents in consumption habits that were quite similar.
Generation Z’s favorite entertainment
The entertainment preferences of Generation Z in the U.S. have shifted toward video games rather than video viewing. So it is not strange that young people today prefer to join esports competitions, try out Bovada online games (especially live ones) or other gambling platforms, or use social media.
The digital divide and the transformation of entertainment options have accelerated the obsolescence of habits from one generation band to another.
The behavior of millennials and, especially, the Zeta generation already presented a radical shift in focus regarding how they entertained themselves before the pandemic.
With the health crisis and the shift, it brought in terms of digital socialization, all these online experiences have entered a new phase of expansion.
Social networks, video games, and metaverse are the big threats to streaming
According to the Deloitte report, based on surveys in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and Japan, the favorite elements of these new forms of entertainment are challenging to replicate in SVOD.
Factors such as the emotional value of what they experience, the connection with others, or the possibility of expressing oneself are the antipodes of the passive experience that goes hand in hand with the platforms.
It is a path that needs to be explored since this interactive and unpredictable component has become one of the main antidotes against the attention crisis younger audiences suffer.
In addition, major social media companies are entertaining billions of people with virtually infinite, highly personalized user-generated video streams that cost little or nothing to produce and are free.”
The flexibility in consuming this type of content translates into extraordinary levels of engagement. That is why they have become the envy of all digital content companies, which seek to incorporate similar practices to replicate these results.
Video games are the main activity enjoyed by young people
The same applies to video games, a star entertainment activity among young people, thanks to the possibilities that the digital alter ego of users allows in terms of expression, connection, and immersion.
For streaming platforms, in their current status quo, it is a brutal enemy to fight. So, it is unsurprising that companies like Disney or Netflix have jumped on the metaverse and video games bandwagon to align their services with this emerging trend.
Netflix uses Decentraland metaverse to engage Web3 audience
In the latter half of 2022, Netflix promoted its new movie “The Gray Man” in the Decentraland metaverse to connect with audiences already using Web3 (the next evolution of the World Wide Web).
This is Netflix’s first action in the metaverse, and it is Gosling himself who, from a screen, tells the players what to do. Those who complete the course at a given time get exclusive NFTs inspired by the Russo brothers’ movie.
The streaming company follows in the footsteps of entertainment giant Walt Disney. Last July, it decided to bet on immersive experiences with augmented reality, NFTs, and artificial intelligence.
In addition, numerous brands linked to all types of industries are starting to take their first steps in Web3 to attract young people: traditional banks (such as Santander), electronics multinationals (such as Samsung), and also the luxury industry (Balenciaga and Gucci).
Finally, soccer teams like the Spanish Atletico de Madrid have already experimented with different Web3 tools.
Conclusion
Streaming services have an ocean of opportunities ahead of them, but their conquest depends on understanding the new digital entertainment formats and how people socialize and express themselves. So now it is about telling good stories and allowing them to live these stories in the first person.
That’s what it’s all about; young people get bored just watching without being able to participate; they lose interest and automatically abandon platforms that do not allow them to do what is in their best interest: experience and feel part of something bigger.
