Whether talking about Fallout making the leap from renowned video game franchise to hit Prime Video series, or the many ways people are enjoying beloved IPs such as The Last of Us, The Lord of The Rings or Tomb Raider, one thing is clear — the days of compelling entertainment properties being siloed into one preferred medium are behind us. Instead, to the delight of old and new fans, increasingly they’re crossing over to new platforms that tell connected stories, expanding their universes and reaching new audiences across movies, TV, games, and more.
Last Thursday, Laura Naviaux Sturr, GM of Operations at Amazon Games, joined a diverse group of entertainment industry leaders for the panel discussion, “Convergence - Driving Value Across Different Mediums.” The panel was featured at the Financial Times’ Business of Entertainment Summit held on September 19 in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.
With games a core pillar of entertainment convergence, Sturr was joined on stage by Bill Kramer, CEO, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Will McIntosh, President, Fandango & NBC Sports Next, and Daniel Hong, Partner, Bain & Company. The panel was moderated by Christopher Grimes, Los Angeles Bureau Chief, Financial Times.
As each topic of conversation tied back to media convergence and transmedia properties, the nearly 40-minute discussion covered everything from engaging fandom and finding new audiences to the effect of sports and technology on today’s cross-media successes and tomorrow’s goals.
Some of the highlight moments from the speakers included:
The Power of Fandom Across Generations
“We’re on the forefront of a renaissance in many ways… Gaming is just getting started. This idea of convergence, we’re just at the tip of the iceberg of opportunity. There are shows like The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. film, or the Fallout series that Amazon released this year, that really show the power of game fandom, but also how the next generation, generations Z and Alpha really want to think about their entertainment preferences.” - Laura Sturr, GM of Operations, Amazon Games
“Chris said it in the last session around world building, Laura just mentioned the fandom piece. They (consumers) also expect to be able to go deeper into where they engage in where they have fandom, you know. If they have a world in a video game that they love, they wanna go outside that. They wanna see film. They wanna see a manga of it, they wanna cross the digital barrier into live experiences.” - Daniel Hong, Partner, Bain and Company
“These IPs that have been huge juggernauts for 20, 30, 40 years. That means they have 20, 30, 40 years of fans that are just as voracious and wanting to engage with those characters and stories that they love and tell new ones too.” - Laura Sturr, GM of Operations, Amazon Games
Measuring Convergence On and Off the Screen
“We should be thinking about how many people are engaging with not just the Oscars, but with all of our year-round content on linear, on streaming, on social, in person. We do in-person events around the world, so it's really thinking about defining our metric for a success beyond one night on linear television.” - Bill Kramer, CEO, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
“Speaking of Roblox, we just did something with Warner Brothers around the launch of the Beetlejuice movie where for the first time ever — and inside of the Beetlejuice universe within Roblox — there was a fandango movie theater where you could go, and among other things, purchase movie tickets. I think that ended up being their most visited or most played kind of experience related to a movie of all time.” - Will McIntosh, President, Fandango & NBC Sports Next
Smart Use of Beloved Properties Among Growing Expectations
“We’re working on The Lord of The Rings, Tomb Raider, a new driving IP, a combo of action and adventure, but you have to do it in a way that it’s not one size fits all. People who are doing IP smartly are thinking about how do you transform for those generations, how do you take cues from what's really popular now with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, but do it with quality… Things have just gotten bigger, higher expectations, so much competing for people's time and attention.”- Laura Sturr
Among the key takeaways, all panelists agreed that transmedia convergence is accelerating. This means more game IPs turning into hit shows and movies, and vice versa. According to the panelists, we’ll also see some digital properties appearing more and more off screen in live experiences. With various sector focuses these entertainment industry leaders will continue to chart a course that goes deep with fans, while expanding offerings to invite new audiences and players in.
PHOTO CREDIT: Business of Entertainment Summit by Financial Times Live – https://entertainment.live.ft.com
